This post was originally written as a Christmas Eve sermon. Click here if you wish to listen to the audio for that sermon. Please note that The Mandalorian is rated TV-14. He has taken the world by storm with his cuteness and love. His presence in the world has changed lives in a meaningful way. People cannot stop talking about him or his greatness. I am, of course, talking about Baby Yoda. Baby Yoda is by far the cutest thing you have ever seen. He is, many would argue, the star of the new Star Wars TV show, The Mandalorian. But all that cuteness can make us forget the crux of Baby Yoda’s story. He is a being, simply because he exists, that is being chased all over the galaxy. At the start of the story, all we know is that fragments of the Galactic Empire, destroyed at the Battle of Endor at the end of Return of the Jedi, want Baby Yoda, dead or alive. They want to perform tests on Baby Yoda, many of them painful or torturous, in order to learn more about this creature’s mysterious species in hopes of discovering more about the Force. Baby Yoda’s life is one that will never be safe. It is easy to forget that looking at his adorably cute face. There’s another baby who had a similar journey. That baby’s name is, of course, Jesus. It is easy to look at this day and see only that which gives us cause to celebrate: the salvation of the world, our own personal salvation, and the fact that we get to celebrate a cute baby. The images of Christmas conjure up beautiful nativity scenes, shepherds and kings coming to worship Baby Jesus, and Baby Jesus somehow getting to play with cute sheep and other animals in spite of just being born.
In Matthew, Baby Jesus is also being chased after by those in power. King Herod the Great, a terrible tyrant, hears of Jesus’ birth from the Wise Men. Herod sees Jesus as a potential threat to his power, so he goes in and systematically kills every child born within the same period of time as Jesus. We remember those children on December 28, the Feast Day of the Holy Innocents. It is only because of an angel in Joseph’s dream that he, Mary, and Baby Jesus are able to escape Herod and flee to Egypt. We often forget that Jesus’ birth wasn’t a cute and joyous occasion as we would like to depict it. Jesus’ life was in real danger from the world beyond Him, not to mention the danger to his mother even before His birth, as we heard this past Sunday. As cute and adorable of a baby as He more than likely was, His life was far from safe. That is something we often forget and that we would do well to remember. But in all of that danger is hope. The odds were completely stacked against Jesus, and yet He survived, doing so in order to grow up and be able to save us all from sin and death. Even with the full force of the king against Him, Jesus came through unharmed. Only through the will of God could any of this happen. Only through the will of God could everything turn out and be all right. Though we might wish it were different, life is rarely perfect or idyllic. When times are tough, we can remember that our life and salvation were hard fought for. Against all likelihood Jesus survived and gave us life from death. For that great gift, the true gift of Christmas, we can say, “Thanks be to God!”
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Please note, the Star Wars movies discussed here are rated PG and PG-13. As we prepare in this time of year to celebrate Christmas, the birth of Christ Jesus into this world, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about the story of Anakin Skywalker from the Star Wars universe. When we first (canonically) meet Anakin, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn finds him on a backwater planet, Tatooine, and realizes he is strong in the Force. When he asks Anakin's mother, Shmi, who Anakin's father is, she says, "There was no father. I can't explain it." Jesus, of course, was born to a virgin in Israel, which would have been considered a backwater nation of the Roman Empire. Jesus also had strange occurrences surrounding his growing up, such as visits by random shepherds with tidings from an angel, a visit from Wise Men, astronomers and kings of far away lands, and the wisdom to respond to the teachers in the Temple at a young age, among other events. Anakin is believed by Qui-Gon to be the Chosen One, the one prophesied to bring balance to the Force. Jesus is the Messiah, the one prophesied to save us from our sins. Anakin's story, however, takes a dark turn from Jesus', literally, Instead of continuing to fight for the Light Side of the Force, Anakin turns to the Dark Side, becoming Darth Vader, an evil lord of the Sith. Yet somehow, Anakin still remains the Chosen One during this time. When he sees his master trying to kill his son, he takes action and sacrifices his own life to throw the Emperor down a shaft in the Death Star to his doom. While Jesus, of course, never turns dark side (quite the opposite, actually, as we see in His temptation by the devil, told in detail in Matthew and Luke), His love for us lead Him to sacrifice Himself for us on the Cross. His victory was over the forces of evil in the world. It is not at all a perfect parallel, but we can see some similarities between Anakin and Jesus. Both are leaders foretold to be strong in power who will help balance the scales of justice in the world, and both are born without the involvement of a human father. Both sacrifice their lives to destroy evil and protect those they love. For Jesus, that love is thankfully not limited to some, but is given for the whole world.
As we prepare for the celebration of Jesus' incarnation into this world, it is important to remember that the birth alone is not important, but it is vital because of where it leads for us and the world. Both Anakin and Jesus changed the world through their deaths by giving hope of good things to come. Please note that Star Wars: The Last Jedi is rated PG-13. One of my favorite scenes in the more recent events of the Star Wars universe comes from Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Luke is in a moment of despair and is ready to give the whole notion of the Jedi Order up. At this moment, the force ghost of Yoda suddenly appears, and he and Luke have one last conversation, mirroring some of their conversations from Dagobah, part of which was covered previously. Their conversation covers two key issues: 1) Failure Yoda, in his conversation with Luke tells him: The greatest teacher, Failure is. We all in the church, and I include myself here, could do a better job of seeing the need and necessity of failure. We are not a faith built on success, and by that I don't mean how God's people throughout Scripture have failed to be perfect, although that is certainly true. The expectation of the Messiah was that he would be a military king to drive out all foreign powers so that God's people might once again reign in the Land of the Holy One. Jesus was not a man of military might. When He came into Jerusalem, He came in on a donkey, not a horse. He rode in on an animal of peace, not war. Jesus' victory over sin and death, even, comes from failure. Jesus dies in order to triumph over death and sin. In the eyes of the world, that is the greatest of failures. Yet the greatest of failures led to the greatest salvation of all. Our faith is founded on what the world would see as failure. Failure for us is just the sign that we continue to need God's help in all that we do. This is not to say we should be satisfied as we are. We are called to continue to grow in the knowledge and love of the Lord. We are called to turn back (the literal meaning of the word "repent") from our old ways to become more fully God's. Philippians 3:4-14, in particular, is a great passage to remind us that we must keep striving, even when we mess up or are less than perfect. In those times, we will always have God to lean to help us back up. 2) "We Are What They Grow Beyond" What Yoda says next is one of my favorite quotes in the Star Wars universe: We are what they grow beyond. This is wisdom we should all strive to follow. It is the approach that John the Baptist has, albeit because the one following after him is Jesus, and it is the approach we should have as well.
We all want what is best for our children, that is those who will follow after us whether biologically or societally. There are ways we have succeeded at this. There is a wealth of resources we now have at our fingertips to help us lead healthier lives spiritually, mentally, and physically. There are also new temptations that come with those resources as well. We should always strive to raise up the next generation to be better and do better than us. If we do that, then they will raise the next generation to be better than them, and onward and so forth. As Christians, we are called to do our best to make the kingdom of God visible on this earth. This is the way to do that. I often hear of people who are afraid that the church is dying. If we have faith that God is bigger than us, then we do not need to fear what the future will bring. In fact, if we are faithful in raising the next generation as leaders, then we will have nothing to fear at all. The fear of the future is a sign that we are not preparing those who come after to grow beyond us. If we want to have hope and not fear, then we need to take a step back, not do everything ourselves, and prepare the next generation to lead the church with love and grace. They will grow beyond us. We are far from perfect, so thank God for that! Please note, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is rated PG. In our previous discussion on the Force, we saw Yoda teach Luke about the ways of the Force. During Luke's training, his X-Wing ship starts to sink in the swamp that makes up a great deal of the planet Dagobah. Yoda uses this as a teaching moment to help Luke realize just how powerful the Force really is, suggesting Luke try to lift his ship back out of the swamp. But Luke struggles with believing he can do it. Yoda pushes, and Luke says he will give it a try. Yoda famously replies: Do or do not. There is no try. Yoda's statement is about Luke's faith. Either he believes he can do it, or he doesn't. Really, either Luke trusts in the power of the Force, or he doesn't. Luke looks like he's succeeding when all of a sudden the X-Wing starts to fall back into the swamp. He claims it is too big which leads Yoda to teach him more about how powerful an ally the Force is. Luke scoffs and replies, "You want the impossible." Luke apparently never read Matthew 19:26, which states: For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible. Of course, Jesus is responding here to the Disciples' question of who can be saved, not lifting a huge spaceship out of a swamp (#please_don't_try_this_at_home), but the point is the same as Yoda's. When we face a task that is impossible for us, we are called to turn to something bigger. For Yoda, that is the Force. For us, that is God. Like all good teachers, Yoda realizes the need to lead by example and demonstrate what you are trying to teach. Where Luke failed, Yoda succeeds. When Luke sees what Yoda has done, he is dumbfounded. He says, "I don't believe it." Yoda curtly replies, "That is why you fail."
We see examples of Jesus' Disciples also struggling with belief. In Matthew 17:14-20, Jesus has to come in and help when the Disciples fail to cure an epileptic boy. When the Disciples ask why they could not do it, Jesus replies that they have little faith. In Matthew 14:28-31, Jesus walks on water. Peter tries to emulate him, and he succeeds for a time until the winds frighten him and Peter has to cry out for Jesus to save him. Jesus catches him and responds by saying, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" To have faith means to trust. To trust means we know we cannot merely rely on ourselves, or even do anything on our own, but that we instead trust in God to help and guide us completely. When we do that, as Matthew 17:20 tells us, we will have faith that can move mountains, let alone spaceships. Last time, we talked about the ways that the Force in Star Wars is like the Holy Spirit. However, as amazing as it is to think of the followers of Jesus righting wrongs in the galaxy with superpowers and lightsabers, there are some key differences between what the Force is and what the Holy Spirit is. It is important to explore these differences so that we don't fall into an incorrect understanding of the Holy Spirit that is inconsistent with our faith. Number 1- Pantheism: When talking about the Force previously, we heard Obi-Wan say that the Force is "an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together." Then in Star Wars: The Clone Wars in season 6, episode 12, Yoda meets with 5 Force Priestesses to learn more about the Force. The leader of the Priestesses, Serenity, explains that when a living thing dies, it passes from the Living Force to the Cosmic Force. This Cosmic Force, in turn feeds the Living Force, creating a cycle. This idea of the Force is basically Pantheism, that is, the idea that God and the universe, or nature, are one and the same. That is not at all what we say the Holy Spirit is. While the Holy Spirit does reside in us, it is not created by us. The opposite, in fact, is true. God dwells with us but is also separate from us as beings. God is, in fact, beyond us and all creation, which the Lord made. To claim that God and creation are one is to say that God is not a creator. We might then wonder how anything ever came to be in the first place! Number 2- Gnosticism: In the times of early Christians (and, unfortunately, still today), there was an idea (to put it incredibly simply) that our bodies were a prison which a teacher came into this world to free us from. There were many different philosophical and religious groups that expressed similar beliefs to this that referred to themselves as gnostics. The problem with gnosticism is that 1) denies that God created us as physical beings (in the Nicene Creed, we speak of "the resurrection of the body") and 2) it forgets the importance of the Incarnation in our faith. The Incarnation means this: God came down in human form and dwelt among us in order that we and God might be able to come back into relationship with one another. God did not look down upon our physicality, but embraced it to be with us. Yoda when training Luke in the ways of the Force says, "Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter." Yoda is espousing a gnostic notion with the Force, demonstrating another way the Force is not completely like the Holy Spirit. Number 3- Dualism: Star Wars is very much a story about the fight between good and evil through the Light and Dark Sides of the Force. In the time of the Republic, the Light triumphed with the Jedi Order as the peacekeepers of the galaxy. Then the Dark Side reigned with two Sith Lords at the helm of the Galactic Empire. Post Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the Light, represented by the Resistance, and the Dark, represented by the First Order, are still in conflict over the soul of the galaxy.
The Light Side, it seems, is not ultimately more powerful than the Dark Side. That is not true with the Holy Spirit. From the beginning of Genesis, God made Creation to be good. Evil does come in to the minds of humans through both Adam and Eve and the choice they made together, but that evil never has power over dominion over God. Jesus' Death and Resurrection are signs that God will ultimately triumph over sin and evil. The Force can be a powerful tool to help us understand the Holy Spirit, but only if we also realizes where it fails to be the same as the Spirit. Understanding these differences is the only way we can prevent ourselves from falling into wrong thinking on key matters of belief concerning God.
Star Wars is a franchise beloved by many people. One of my favorite parts about Star Wars is the concept that gives people their "superpowers", and thus makes it a worthy topic for The Gospel according to Superheroes: The Force. There are so many things about the Force that reflect some of our own understandings of the divine and spiritual. The standard greeting in Star Wars is "May the Force be with you." In many churches, a standard greeting is instead, "The Lord be with you." But how exactly does the Force reflect aspects of our faith in the real world? To get at that, we first need to have a sense for what the Force is. The first time in film (as opposed to chronologically according to Disney canon) we hear a description of the Force is from Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: A New Hope. When Luke asks Obi-Wan what the Force his, he replies: "It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together." There is an aspect to this that sounds a lot like the Holy Spirit. The Force in Star Wars is always connected with life as the very thing that makes life possible. The word for spirit means "breath", and it is usually connected in Scripture with that which gives life. As far as "surrounding and penetrating" us goes, we have examples of the Spirit coming in and penetrating us. In John, Jesus breaths on the Disciples after the Resurrection saying, "Receive the Holy Spirit." At the start of Acts, the Holy Spirit is depicted as tongues of fire resting on the Disciples. Jesus, before the Crucification, tells the Disciples in John that He will not leave them alone, but that the Holy Spirit will come to be a teacher and an Advocate, or Helper as some translations put it. In Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda takes over Luke's training in the ways of the Force on the swamp planet of Dagobah. Yoda, towards the end of their time together, emphasizes the power of the Force saying: Judge me by my size do you? And well you should not, for my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. It's interesting to note that at this point, as at many other times, Yoda is trying to get Luke to open up to the Force. This is similar to how we at times need to open ourselves up to listen to what it is that the Holy Spirit is trying to say to us in our lives. In Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Qui-Gon Jinn takes young Anakin Skywalker under his wing. In his description, Qui-Gon brings up the concept of midi-chlorians as a way to explain how those in the Star Wars universe interact with the Force. Without the midi-chlorians, or rather the Force, "life would not exist", just as life in this world would not exist without the creation of the world by God through the Holy Spirit. Qui-Gin also says: They continually speak to us, telling us the will of the Force. The Force, then is more than just an energy in the world. It has a will for people to listen to. This too is like God's Holy Spirit which resides in us. Of course, this wouldn't be The Gospel according to Superheroes without talking about the powers the Force gives. We see a variety of Force powers in the Star Wars universe, most notably reading minds and lifting objects. When the Holy Spirit descends on the Disciples in Acts, it also provides them with a special ability. They are able to speak in a tongue that is understood by anyone listening to them. But that is not all the Spirit provides. The Spirit strengthens us as people in this world through Fruits of the Spirit discussed in Galatians. Paul speaks of the gifts of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12 which come in a variety of forms to be used by all in the church. The Force is more than just a tool. It is a living spiritual giver of life that is beyond all things and yet allies itself with those who dedicate their lives to listening to what it has to say. This is a very helpful tool for us to understand what it is that the Holy Spirit does in our lives. However, the analogy between the Force and the Spirit is far from perfect. There are deep problems with equating the two. We will look at the ways the Force and the Spirit are not similar next time on The Gospel according to Superheroes! My apologies for offending anyone by discussing the prequels and midi-chlorians. Please note Frozen is rated PG. Anna is probably my favorite character in Frozen. While far from perfect, she is a great example of perseverance and of taking responsibility. When Elsa accidentally reveals her powers after her coronation, Anna doesn't judge her sister, but she does take responsibility for causing Elsa to reveal her powers and then run off. Anna, in taking responsibility, pledges to find her sister no matter what.
First of all, this reflects the notion of repentance. When we do something wrong or something that harms others, we are called to do what we can to make it right. In fact, Jesus during the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:23-25 calls us to leave our gifts on the altar and go to be reconciled with those we may have wronged immediately, which is precisely what Anna does. Second, Anna shows that she is her sister's keeper. This is a wonderful reversal of the sin of Cain in Genesis 4:9, and a reminder to us all that we are responsible for one another. Anna is a great example to us of taking responsibility of our actions and for caring deeply for our loved ones. She is a great example to us all, not least because of the self-sacrificing love she shows for her sister. Join us next for more heroes and more Gospel insights. Please note, Frozen is rated PG. Frozen is a movie that is primarily about love. Mostly, it's about discovering what love is. Elsa's and Anna's parents, out of concern to protect Elsa, decide to bar Elsa from the outside world. Unfortunately, this makes Elsa's powers even more dangerous. It also creates a void in Anna's heart that she continues to try to fill. One way Anna tries to fill the void in her heart is by seeking after romantic love. This does not, however, fully help. The love she is truly seeking is the love of her sister, which is the only thing that can fill that void. This is similar to how only letting the love of Jesus in our hearts can fill the void we sometimes feel. Olaf, the snowman, has some surprisingly wise words on the subject: Love is putting someone else's needs before yours. Anna puts Olaf's words to the test. At the end of the film, she is trying to find an act of love that will save her magically cursed/frozen heart. As she's running to Christof, the love interest, so he can save her with a kiss, she sees Hans, the bad guy, trying to kill Elsa. Anna immediately sacrifices herself, going to save her sister. In her dying act, Anna turns into a statue of ice, shattering Hans sword, and saving Elsa in the process. Turns out this act was exactly what was needed to free Anna from the curse. She returns to normal and she and Elsa embrace. Elsa states, "You sacrificed yourself for me." Anna replies, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "I love you." It's here that Elsa thinks back to the wisdom the trolls told her as a child and Anna when she was cursed: Only an act of true love can thaw a frozen heart. Elsa then uses that love to save the kingdom and control her powers once again. Anna's self-sacrificing love in the movie is very important. It is the same love Jesus shows us, and we are called, just like Anna, to show that same love to others. Sometimes, like in Frozen, it takes time to truly understand what love is. If we follow the path of love that leads us to empty ourselves for others, then we are on the right path indeed. My hope is that we can all be like Anna and be examples of this self-emptying love that can lead others back to Christ Jesus. Tune in next time for more Frozen! |
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The Rev. Trey KennedyHere is my take on how Superheroes and other characters can help us know God better. Categories
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