Harry Potter, Hogwarts and The Salvation Army -Part One-

(This will possibly be meaningless to many people because I realise that there are those within our number who may not be in the front of the queue to see the latest Harry Potter movie, or even relish the thought that there might be a connection. Some may smile, some will want to send me scriptural quotations to correct my wayward thoughts and there may be some who want to punch the air and say YES! in bold capital letters. Please restrain yourself and if you are offended, or likely to be, give this a miss and wait for the next post.)

In the Salvation Army we have a very rich and colourful history; who we are today is made up of all the things that we have been involved in and done in the past. No one could argue that it has not been an interesting journey and although some would argue that it has not been a perfect journey it has been an interesting one and it is a long way from reaching its destination. There was the Salvation Navy and the stories around that when its only boat became grounded because there were too many people on board; the stories from The Old Corps by Edward Joy; the start of the Army in so many countries really makes exciting reading and we rarely give credence to the bravery of effort and even naivety that was involved. There are so many others, mythical and real all recorded in our annals; we are what all the years have made us. It would be a very jaundiced person to say that it was not interesting and the result of an unseen guiding hand.

Yes! The Salvation Army has a rich History.

Hogwarts, the school that the mythical (but very real to many people) Harry Potter attended school could have been based on The Salvation Army. It is almost like an intensified version of Edward Joys ‘The Old Corps’. It’s been around a long time and has all sorts of traditions and there are the various characters that make it what it is. I have to confess; I am a fan. A few years ago I had cause to see all the HP movies that had been made to that time; I also read quite a few of the books that have been written about the HP phenomenon. Did you know that there are books written about all the spells used; and the game of Quidditch reads like a history of major league baseball? There is all the detail about things that happen behind the scenes and even the relationships between the various characters that are always a part of organisational life in an organisation of this kind. The gatherings in the Great Hall always seem to me to be reminiscent of Spiritual days in the Training College. Strange I know but I do have a vivid imagination and with age it’s getting more vivid.
Yes! Hogwarts School of Magic also has a rich History.

But is that where it ends?

An organisation is not an organisation without its rich cast of characters. If you are so inclined have a look at Hogwarts characters on Wikipedia; there are literally hundreds of characters all woven in to this magnificently crafted tale and it would do us benefit to actually see what they can teach us. Of course there are the main characters, Harry Potter, Hermione and Ron; and the Hogwarts Houses; Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytheryn, all with wonderful histories and traditions and the professors and teachers at this college, like Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore – ‘Headmaster’, Minerva McGonnal – ‘Headmistress’, Rubeus Hagrid – ‘Keeper of the Keys and the Grounds’, Alastor ‘Mad eye’ Moody – ‘Defence against the Dark Arts Professor’, and Severis Snape – ‘Head of Slytherin House’, and so many others. I have in my thinking people who match up with many of these characters from my own experience of life and I guess that you do also. Did you really have an elderly Brigadier in College who could have had the title ‘Defence against the Dark Arts’? In my TC we did actually have a Keeper of the Keys, however there was a rogue key to the side gate (men’s side of course) that was handed down from the holder when the Cadet was commissioned. There was even a little ceremony before we all left to go to commissioning; I was the recipient one year and the ‘passer-on’ was commissioned as the new Lieut on the TC Staff and he did become the subject of the Dark Arts for me throughout the next year. Let’s not get too carried away with all this but I am sure there are similarities with all our combined experiences as we compare the TC and Hogwarts.

Are you still with me?

Hogwarts, in fantasy and The Salvation Army in reality is made up of characters from all sorts of backgrounds with all sorts of skills and abilities and give all sorts of impressions to those that look on from the outside. It is not unknown in the whole narrative of Harry Potter that we are almost encouraged to contrast the ‘good’ Harry against the ‘bad’ characters that give us its totally absorbing and engaging sense of adventure. I find it absolutely fascinating but that is not where it ends. Within the Salvation Army we have been educated like most of the traditional conservative church to focus on being good and to ‘root out the sin within’ however, there is possibly another way that we could look at it.

-Part One-

Fletch
Peter Fletcher
Former
Australia