- May the Fourth be with you. Today is culturally known as “Star Wars Day,” a play on the iconic phrase from the movies ("May the Force be with you"). I did not see Star Wars until it was on television (once a year... and if you missed it, you had to wait a whole year to watch it. Remember those days???). As a child, I knew very little about God, but I loved the idea of an unseen force guiding events and granting supernatural power to those who knew how to use it. And, wow: that lightsaber... that weapon represented both the coolest and most flawed weapon ever wielded. A light sword that could cut through nearly anything? Cool. A light sword that would very likely take off the bearer's own appendages? Flawed (don't even get me started on the guy’s lightsaber in the newer movies, with sword guards also made of flaming light).
Nostalgia aside, Star Wars is a very religious movie. It is akin to Eastern religions and pantheism. With a dash of New Age spirituality sprinkled in. Parents, if your children watch the movies, use them as a teaching tool. I’m hesitant to suggest that letting your children watch these movies automatically means you’ve failed as a parent. I'm an example of a godless kid who watched all three original movies and came to Christ years later. I would not say that God "used" those movies but they certainly did not destroy me either. On the other hand, it is okay and good to say "no" - you are the parent. We as Christians are to be countercultural. We are to be so unlike the culture that we can speak directly into it (not just speak from the culture as just another voice).
Some ways Star Wars conflicts with biblical theology:
- God is not impersonal. No one is talking to the Force in Star Wars; they use the Force. What we see in the Bible is a God who speaks, wills, loves, judges, creates, and even enters into covenant with people. He is personal, revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He's not an energy field running through the universe that we can just "tap into."
- God does not counterbalance evil. Throughout Star Wars, we see the conflict of light and dark. In the first movies, Luke was said to be the one who would "bring balance to the Force." This is not what Scripture teaches. There is no good and evil existing in equilibrium. Evil is rebellion against God. Evil is what we get in the absence of good. God is sovereign over all, including Satan. When the light comes, darkness is destroyed - not balanced!
- Humanity cannot naturally access divine power. On the contrary, the Bible teaches that we are fallen and spiritually dead apart from God. Without divine regeneration, we are powerless - we have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
- We cannot get there by inner mastery. It is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ that we are saved. The religion of the Jedi order suggests that we advance through discipline and detachment. The more we are trained and the more we gain self-control, the more enlightened we are... the more connected to the Force we become. This just isn't biblical reality - the more we try to do good, sin is crouching at the door - it dwells in us as natural mankind (note Romans 7). What hope do we really have? Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! - Romans 7:24-25. Salvation is through Jesus Christ our Lord!
May the Force be with you? Why would you want to wield a lightsaber when you can know the God who is light? If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7). God be with you on this May 4th!
- Teen Life Truths (TLT) - CORRECTION: TLT is beginning on May 20th for 6th graders and older (not the 13th). This is a 10-week study of basic life principles that is a set-up for these students to live their middle-school and high school years with no regrets. We encourage all to join. Talk to Pastor Tim for more information.
- OA:sis is winding down - The final Wednesday evening meal for this season is this Wednesday. The meal, as well as adult Bible Study and kidz clubs, will pause for the summer. Prayer Force and the youth LIGHThouse (6-12th grade) will continue to meet during the summer months (at 7pm).
- The message on Sunday for communion was taken from Haggai and 1st Corinthians. We noted that communion is the Lord’s Supper, not our own meal shaped by self-interest or distraction. Like Haggai’s call to “consider your ways,” Paul’s instruction to “examine yourself” urges us to honestly evaluate whether Christ truly holds first place in their lives. We look to Jesus as the fulfillment of the temple, the true dwelling place of God, so that in communion we remember not only His sacrifice but also His real spiritual presence with His people. In chapter 2, Haggai’s teaching about uncleanness helped us consider humanity’s inability to cleanse itself and the gospel’s great reversal: Christ touches the unclean and makes them clean through His atoning work. Last, we saw, communion as a forward-looking act of hope, proclaiming Christ’s death until He comes again and reminding believers that an even greater glory still awaits.
- National Day of Prayer. Resurrection Lutheran Church in Gretna has invited us to a prayer event that day in their Fellowship Hall. They noted these times:
- Registration: 9-9:30 (Continental Breakfast)
- Program: 9:30-10:30 (Speakers & time for prayers)
- The Living Room. This coffee house event will on a Saturday night this month. May 23rd. Suggestion: If you are a grandparent with some college age grandchildren, invite them out to this. Come anytime from 6:30 to 9:30 pm and stay as long as you like - coffee, live music, games.
