For Yoda’s wisdom and Jesus’ crude matter are diametrically opposed. The popularity of Star Wars in the church and culture makes that a tough task. And not even 24 hours later, I witnessed firsthand the problem the church has with shaking the negative influences and effects of dualism. This is the time our Christian tribe remembers weekly the flesh and blood of Jesus- of God becoming man, or “incarnate,” and dying on the cross to save the world. The next morning, a friend quoted this line during his communion talk. And in a statement that is presented as both wise and deep, Yoda tells him, “ Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter” (as he pinches the flesh on Luke’s shoulder). It was at that moment I realized Yoda was a dualist. Luke is getting discouraged amidst his Jedi “two-a-days,” so Yoda has to coach him up. And turns out, its one of the most famous lines in all of Star Wars. Think about it, w hat better way is there for a church striving to live up to Sticky Faith principles and bolster intergenerational relationships than watching Stars Wars together?! Name one, I dare you.īut in the midst of the 7 hours of watching IV-VI, eating Galaxy Mix jelly beans from the Target dollar section, and playing”Guess Who? Star Wars Edition” with my son, one line from The Empire Strikes Back still rings in my ear. Thinking about how quill used music as his only reminder of his mother, to the point that he would risk his own life to save it and keep part of her alive, and how we're introduced to him as the one who dances while everyone around him rolls their eyes, and how he raises baby groot to be the first of the team to dance as openly and joyfully as him, and how this groot is the first one to dance during the last scene, and how rocket – who hums tunelessly while he works until he's building stereos to play tunes while fighting until his favorite song is "come and get your love" – joins him without any self-consciousness, and how quill left rocket his zune and team leadership but the first gift he ever gave him was a name for what he was: raccoon, and how drax overcomes his stubborn adherence to never dancing because what matters more to him than being a stoic destroyer is being a father, who makes the hundreds of children that look up to him laugh with delight, and who gets to watch mantis (whose innocence reminded him of his daughter) set off into the world with her own purpose the way his own child never got to, and how nebula dances along with them, no longer holding herself to the second-best status that thanos forced on her, instead at home as a leader who can fight with her family without having to compete with them, and how she stills talks to gamora, who is able to accept that she once meant the world to the guardians, once spoke their language and joined in their hugs and was part of their fun, but that she doesn't owe it to them to join in the dance and be that same person, and returns to the adoptive family that she feels at home with, and the lyric "leave all your love and your longing behind / you can't carry it with you if you want to survive," and how in order to go forward the guardians can't all stay together, but how that doesn't mean they aren't still a team and a family because how do you truly leave the people who have dragged you, doubting and kicking and screaming, toward comfort and security and happiness? for the hottest, slowest, laziest days to end, the ones where you lost best friends and spouses and children and siblings and years of your life and memories with someone, the ones where you run from your past and pretend you were never in pain, never loved anyone, you have to let that hope catch up with you (“happiness hit her / like a bullet in the back”).On the eve of the new “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” premier, our student ministry just had our own Star Wars marathon.
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