My children at one stage believed their paternal grandmother was a Jedi knight. For those of you who are not familiar with this title I will briefly explain. All across the galaxy the Empire was in a constant battle with Rebel forces. The Empire was led by a Sith lord who had executed a plan to kill all the Jedi knights thus enabling him to rule the entire galaxy with his trusted right hand man Darth Vadar. Unfortunately for him there were survivors and eventually he was defeated. That is very much the short version and if you want the full version you will have to sit through six films. But back to my mother. The reason my children thought my mother was a Jedi knight was that her birthday is on the 4th of May (I will be a dutiful son and not give the year) thus “May the Fourth be with you” a play on a phrase often quoted by the said Jedi knights.
You can’t watch the Star Wars films without making reference to the religious undertones throughout. The Jedi knights use the Good Side of the universal force and the Sith use the Dark Side to their benefit. Although the whole galaxy is under submission to the Dark Side eventually the Good Side wins out. I don’t have to allude any further on the parallels with Christianity – or do I? Even those of us that profess to a belief in the saving power of God through Jesus Christ and His ultimate victory over all that has hold of us, we don’t really get it. Just like the end of the last Star Wars film “The Return of the Jedi” there are lots of celebrations at the defeat of the evil Empire but then it stops – no reference to the daily struggles the Rebel forces will now face in rebuilding. There is not a seventh film outlining the continued fight against remnants of the said evil Empire – it just wouldn’t get the audiences.
We all like to win, we all like to think we can be better and we would all like being good to be easy but it isn’t. A lifetime of bad behaviour, of pride, of envy, of letting our own needs come first does not change over night. In Jesus, God promises to be with us forever and to help us change as we go, not take over but work with us in making us better. In all this God knows that we may not change the world but with Him we can change our own little universe.                           Love Jason   
 The Man in the Manse