It’s said that there are two types of people in the world: Those who love Star Wars and those who are wrong. That’s a joke. I know that Star Wars is not for everyone, and that’s fine. But, someone told me they weren’t really into Star Wars, and when I asked if they had seen Star Wars on the big screen, and they said no, and I said “well there’s your problem” because the opening scene of the original movie, after the crawl explaining what’s happening, when the imperial star destroyer comes from the top of the screen into the scene is one of the greatest moments in cinema history and changed movies forever. Like what can be said of the most influential films, there is a pre-Star Wars and there is after Star Wars. Even if it had not been anywhere as close to as successful as it was, it still would have given us the special effects company of Industrial Light and Magic and Skywalker Sound, which are monumental. Pixar Animation also comes out of Lucas Films, although that’s a few years later. And while the movies are noted for their stilted language, it’s said that Alec Guinness, who plays Jedi knight Obi-Wan Kenobi asked to be killed off early so that he wouldn’t have to keep saying more lines. But we also tend to forget that it was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, won six of them, and was given two additional awards for sound editing and for the creation of a new motion picture camera. What Lucas did was truly revolutionary which we forget form a distance because so much of what he did is now so common, and also noting that what we see as Star Wars now is not what was released in 1977, because Lucas upgraded then in the 90s, and the originals are no longer available, and apparently will never be released again as they originally were.
And so, with that long-winded introduction, we move onto our new series the gospel in Star Wars. And I say this every year in our movie series, but please note that it is not the gospel according to Star Wars, because we have four gospels, and George Lucas did not write any of them, but instead we will look for what we can see in the movies that can help us in our faith, and there is so much. And I will warn you that my Star Wars geek will come out and so some of you may think to yourselves, “I have a bad feeling about this, “ but let me just say that “this is the worship series you are looking for.” And if you don’t know Star Wars you have no idea what I just said.
Today we begin with the original Star Wars film, which is
now referred to either as Episode 4 or A New Hope. Lucas did intend the story
to start in the middle as if you come into the fourth part of a Saturday
matinee serial, much like Flash Gordon, which was what he actually wanted to
do, but he couldn’t get the rights to it, so he made his own. Some of you may
remember that they did come out with a terrible Flash Gordon movie in 1980, of
which the best that might be said is that the theme song was written and
performed by Queen. Lucas also thought Star Wars was going to be a flop, as did
20th century Fox. In fact, they thought so little of it that Fox required
theaters that if they wanted to screen The Other Side of Midnight, which was
supposed to be their big hit for the summer, anyone ever heard of that, that
they had to take Star Wars, and even then, it only opened on 32 screens
nationwide. But it would go on to show continually for more than a year on 42
screens. The other big movie opening at the same time was Smokey and the Bandit,
which opened on 386 screens. It earned 2.7 million on opening weekend. Star
Wars earned 2.5 million, and blew up from there earning 240 percent more than
the next highest grossing film that year, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Star Wars tells the story of the battle between the empire,
who controls the galaxy with an iron fist, and the rebel alliance who are
seeking to bring democracy and peace back. The princess Leia Organa, funny she
doesn’t look Druish, has been given the plans to the empire’s death star, a
planet killing space station, which she has sent to Obi-Wan Kenobi, the last of
the Jedi, telling him, he is her only hope, although it turns out that he is
not her only hope. Obi-Wan, rather than thinking he alone can save, teams up
with Luke Skywalker, a young man who dreams of bigger things that being a moisture
farmer, Han Solo and renegade space cowboy and Han’s partner, Chewbacca, who
was based on Lucas’ dog Indiana. And
what seems like a classic story of a damsel in distress being rescued, Leia
takes charge of the escape, and the evade the grip of the evil Darth Vader, get
the plans to the rebels who launch a last gasp effort to destroy the Death Star
and save the galaxy, which they do when Luke makes the final shot, with the
help from Han Solo who, although he thought the entire thing was a fool’s errand,
has returned, and the death star is destroyed although Darth Vader escapes to
fight another day, and all of this is surrounded with an exposition and talk
about a mysterious power in the universe known as the force.
Now the introduction of the force was an intentional act on
Lucas’ part. And I will note that Lucas was raised Methodist and describes
himself as a Buddhist-Methodist, and he said that he made the film in order to
give a new generation not only a way to look at the battle between good and
evil, but also a way to encounter the supernatural. He said “I put the force
into the movie in order to try and awaken a certain kind of spirituality in
young people… I wanted to make it so that young people would begin to ask
questions about the mystery.” “I was trying to say in a simple way,” he said,
“that there is a God and that there is both a good side and a bad side. You
have a choice between them, but the world works better if you’re on the good
side.” It is Obi-Wan Kenobi, who is a Jedi, a group who are connected to the
force, who gives us our first introduction, so take a look… (Video)
Just 28 well-chosen words is what we hear about the force,
before we sort of learn about it through how people interact with the force,
and for the geeks, I’m rejecting the idea of midi-chlorians, and if you don’t
know what that means, don’t ask. Now does that mean that the force is meant to
represent God? No, there are aspects to it, and some have made the comparison
to an understanding of the Holy Spirit, but even that is a stretch. The force
is not God, but again, like the movies it can serve as a metaphor for God, and
like Lucas wanted, help us to ask questions about the mystery not just of God,
but of life. Now there so, so many ways we could approach this film, but for
today’s purposes I would like to focus on discipleship and the making of
disciples as given to us in the gospel passage. Jesus tells the disciples that
they are to go forth and to make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the
trinity, teaching them what they have learned. And then he says he will be with
them always. This too has an echo in Star Wars as Obi-Wan tells Luke that the
force will be with him always. Now there are lots of ways that we can live out
what has come to be known as the great commission, some better than others, and
so I’d like to focus on two clips that highlight the conveyance of the force,
but just in very different ways The first is Darth Vader meeting with the top
military leaders in the death star… (Video) the second clip is similar, and yet
very different. Obi-Wan is beginning to get Luke to be able to sense and use
the force, and so Luke is using a lightsaber, which Obi-Wan calls a more elegant
weapon for a more civilized time, and we can save whether weapons can be
elegant and how civilized times can be that still require weapons, but that’s
for a different message at a different time. But Luke is using the lightsaber
for the first time with a remote shooting lasers at him to help him learn how
to use it… (Video)
Now I have to say that in staff meeting this week, when I
read the gospel passage, they said they had no idea where I was going to go
with that in Star Wars, and perhaps you thought the same thing. But both Darth
Vader and Ob-Wan are using the force. It’s not a different thing, it’s just
Darth uses the dark side, and we should note it’s not that there is a dark and
a light side, there is the force, and then there is the dark side of the force.
But they’re both using the force, and both of them are facing people who are
doubting the force or those who know nothing about it. That is, they are
religious in a secular society. And so, in that, we might see them both as
being representatives for their faith, or maybe even as evangelists, but their
methods are radically different. When Vader is challenged, he chokes the man
who challenges him. Now the man’s lack of faith may truly disturb Vader, but do
you think that being choked is an effective evangelism tool? Does this make the
man want to know more about the force? Does his fear lead him to faith? How
many disciples does Vader make? Is there anyone who seeks to know the force
because of what Darth Vader does or how he lives his life? No. In none of the
movies does anyone that we see from those who work or follow the empire, other
than Vader and the Emperor, ever refer to the force in a positive way. Others
certainly fear the force, or more appropriately they fear Darth Vader, but they
don’t respect either it or him. Fear does not bring people to faith, or at
least we might say honest faith.
Now compare that interchange between Obi-Wan, Luke and Han. Rather
than chastising Han, or telling him how wrong he is, Obi-Wan instead sort of
smiles and then keeps focusing on Luke, and calls Luke not to explain it, but
instead to take a step even further, to call for Luke to put on a helmet with a
shield so he can’t even see what the droid is doing, telling him “sometimes our
eyes deceive us.” He pushes Luke to stretch beyond his comfort zone and where
he is at that moment. He continues to teach him, and in some ways, distracts
him from interacting with Han, because what does Luke know about the force?
He’s just heard about it and started connecting with it a few hours before this
moment, although not knowing anything about something rarely stops anyone from
talking about it. And while Han is not yet a believer, he is not automatically
set to be opposed to it because he sees it playing out in how Obi-Wan lives,
and as the movie goes on is even bold enough to begin talking about the force,
and even saying to Luke before he goes into the Battle of Yavin where Luke destroys
the Death Star, “May the force be with you.” And it’s not just Han, others also
begin talking about the force, and trusting and relying on the force, even if
they don’t understand it, but they see it lived out in other’s lives. And just
another geek moment, the destruction of the Death Star is known as the battle
of Yavin, and it’s upon which all dating in the Star Wars universe happens, as
being before the battle BBY, or after the battle, ABY. And now back to our
regularly scheduled programming.
Madeleine L ’Engle said, “We do not draw people to Christ by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it.” I think that sums up how we are to carry out the great commission, especially in light of Friday’s Supreme Court decision that says it’s okay for Christians to discriminate which unfortunately is how all too many people see who we are. We are called to go forth and make disciples, and we can do that by trying to make people afraid, or telling them how wrong they are, or by truly offering God’s love, not by what we say to people, but how we live our lives, by the love we show to the world, you know, like Jesus said, and by the faithfulness we show to God and by the trust we place in God. Just like Luke turning off his targeting computer at the end to make the shot to destroy the death star because he trusts the force, so too are we called to trust God and to teach what it means to be a disciple to others, and it begins at this table, where God, through his son Jesus Christ, has poured out God’s love for us, and teaches us the ways to be a disciple and by calling everyone to participate. So, go forth to make new disciples by being God’s love to the world. And may the force be with you, always. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment