The Wonder Twins And The Routine

Sometimes I don’t know why I even bother…

I got my chops busted yesterday for owning and wearing an Ablaze! bracelet in what was called A Shocking, Frank, Unrepentant Admission by somebody who’s never seen the Wonder Twins from the Super Friends Saturday morning cartoon from back in the day (and by back in the day I mean back in the seventies when Saturday morning cartoons were cool).

The Wonder Twins, Zan and Jayna, were something like superheroes in training under the Justice League of America. Their powers were activated when they touched each other and said "Wonder Twin powers, activate." Zan always turned into some form of water; like a mist, steam, or some kind of ice cage to trap the villain. Jayna would always transform into some kind of animal whether it be a bird, snake, dinosaur, or some weird alien creature nobody had ever seen before. Ah yes, the Wonder Twins, good times, good times.

So what does Zan and Jayna have to do with the accusatory post by Herr Diekmann? Stick with me here…

Let me address the issue (accusation) head on; yes I do own an Ablaze! bracelet, two in fact, and yes, I really do wear the thing. I wear it to every mission board meeting that I attend. Why do I do this? Because I have found that if I wear the bracelet I’m treated differently that if I don’t. If I wear it I’m treated as if I’m among friends. It’s sorta like Marlin Perkins dressing up as a lion to watch a pride devour a wildebeest on the television program Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. As long as he remained dressed as a lion or stayed behind the blind, he was safe and the lions didn’t eat him. You do remember the show dontcha?

So wearing the bracelet allows me to move freely among those mission minded individuals who are so concerned about the “unchurched” that they would fight any attempt to say that the purpose of the Church is to preach the Word and administer the Sacrament in a mission statement for fear that the “unchurched” might frightened away.

But why do I own two Ablaze! bracelets? For the routine and this brings us back to Zan and Jayna.

When I go into these mission meetings I wear my Ablaze! bracelet on my right wrist. The other one I keep for my pastor which he wears on his left wrist. As soon as we sit down, always next to each other, we do our Wonder Twins routine: we touch the Ablaze! bracelets together and say in unison “Wonder Twin powers activate!” then I’ll say something to the effect of “form of a TV evangelist!” and my pastor will respond with “shape of a Calvinist!”

The funny thing is the blank stares that we get when we do this. So that, my faithful reader, is why the official Ablaze! firefighter owns and wears his Ablaze! bracelet.

Note: the cartoon embedded is not from the Super Friends cartoon, but it’s just as funny, in my ever so humble opinion.