In today’s Daily Episcopalian, The Rev.  Peter Carey wrote an article called “What I Found in “Lost”.”  If you haven’t read it, you should.  Great work.

To take the idea further, it clearly is an example of “the parables of our time” (as quoted in the article), and one that unabashadly explores the elements and the pieces that comprise our understanding of faith and the world.  Unlike the overtly religious shows like Touched by an Angel or 7th Heaven, Lost attempts to deal with spiritual and mythic principles without the crutch or schema of established religion or its ensuing doctrines.  It actually has the opportunity to engage the principles that comprise the doctrines, allowing the viewer to decide for him/herself what is morally right.

The author of the post focuses on the storytelling and the characterizations, and excellently characterizes them in light of what we are able to see in our own congregations.  But it is in Lost’s mythos that we are compelled to address our ethical foundations.  Particularly, in the dynamic relationships, especially the Jack-Kate-Sawyer and Jack-Locke-Ben relationships.  The former is part traditional love triangle, part story of mutual redemption and self-degredation, while the latter is a much more rich triangulation of leadership.  Jack, the reluctant, charismatic leader; Locke the self-assured, driven leader; Ben, the power-seeking, manipulative leader: each getting the opportunity to place others before himself, each showing a sacrificial and empowering leadership, and each being consumed by the opportunities for exploitation.  All a rich tapestry of human behavior and the frailty of human endeavors.

Last, and most obvious, of course, is the show’s teasing and constant playing with belief.  Belief on the part of the characters (rational Jack vs. faithful Locke) and on the part of the viewer.  We are given in this postmodern parable, the opportunity to learn and observe what it means to be a person of faith–to envision what faith does to a person–but also to experience it from the outside, divorced from our understandings of religious traditions.  To be able to have faith in this fantastic island with profound and (so far) unexplained mysteries.  To be able to believe in the goodness and redeeming nature that helps save each of these deeply flawed characters.

And maybe, to have faith that there is something on television that is truly worth watching.