Our Ordinand Danny draw a parallel between John1.1-14 and Star Wars
Danny’s address in full:
As cinema goes, there is no disputing that the Star Wars franchise is up there with the very best cinema has to offer – I won’t be told otherwise! Whether it is the overarching story of good versus evil, the variety of characters and their own back stories, the special effects or simply the age-defying desire to have possession of a lightsaber, there is no doubting the cultural impact of the Star Wars universe in the world today and across the decades.
Like its literary predecessor, ‘Once upon a time’, each Star Wars film begins with an opening line that unites them all, setting the scene and uniting it’s viewers; ‘A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away’. As these words fade from the screen, there is a collective anticipation for the huge words that emblazon the screen a few seconds later and so announce the beginning of the movie and the story that will follow, a story that makes its viewers feel a part of that unique universe through epic storytelling.
An almost identical technique is also used in the time-transcending prologue of John’s gospel, a reading synonymous with Christmas and specifically the Incarnation. The opening line from John, ‘In the beginning was the Word’, introduces us to both the foundations of the universe we live in and to the big story we are a part of as created beings. Unlike the other Gospel writers, the focus for John is less about giving the eternal Word an earthly beginning or earthly identity in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. He deliberately omits the nativity story of the Messiah we all recognise because his purpose is to help us recognise that the Word doesn’t actually have an earthly beginning. For John, it is eternity that is the actual setting of the story of Jesus, with his beginnings not in the stable, but located beyond the cosmos itself in the heavenly realms.
Astonishingly, John goes further by declaring that this Word was not only with God at the origin of the universe, but was God Himself, and that every single created being has its existence because of His love, His breath and His and creativity. Just like a piece of valuable artwork, everything that has ever existed and that ever will exist contains the signature of the eternal God whose idea it was to bring it into existence.
In the Star Wars universe it is something called the Force – a supernatural, cosmic energy – that binds everything together in a type of spiritual interconnectedness that effects all created things and beings. The Force is a sort of divine presence that is both transcendent and yet intimately close, guiding and connecting all life forms within the vastness of the universe. The Star Wars franchise cleverly invites us to reflect on the interconnectedness of all life through the Force that is central to the life and existence of all things in that universe.
For us as Christians and indeed as human beings, the Bible teaches us that all of creation has an inherent connection to God, and importantly, to one another because of their shared Creator. Looking at our world today, it is the failure to recognize the interconnectedness of all creation, of its value and worth as the divine handiwork of God that has led to a vast disconnect between humankind and creation more widely. Creation is an act of grace from our transcendent and yet intimately close God, but humankind in their selfishness and self-centeredness has both damaged relations between all human beings as well as abused the earth and manipulated her abundant resources for selfish gain that has divided the world unjustly.
Because the divine interconnectedness of all things has been disrupted and corrupted, with war, conflict and climate change all being a direct result of human-centred greed and self-interest, humankind is now at a critical moment in ecological history. The time is now for all of humankind to re-think our relationship with creation as a whole after centuries of exploitation, and we must take actions that reflect God’s love and that will safeguard the future for ourselves and for others after us, living out the command to care for the world that God has given us to steward.
The Word of God who assumes flesh in the person of Jesus Christ signifies that the Incarnation of God into His material universe is not just for the benefit of sinful human beings, but is in fact for the benefit and redemption of all of creation. Through the Word taking on a creaturely body in Jesus Christ, the revelation is that all matter matters to God. This is because the whole universe is inherently bound to Christ through sharing the physical, biological and chemical composition contained within it in his creaturely body in the Incarnation. Subsequently, everything in the universe is loved by God, is valuable to God and is known by God and therefore has the potential to be reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ, because the scope of Christ’s Incarnation was for all created beings, seen and unseen.
Both the Star Wars universe and the Incarnation of God in Jesus Christ ask us to consider our place in the cosmos to which we belong, as well as to think about the significance of our choices, both good and bad, in light of the universal interconnectedness of all things. In our life in this universe, all creation is invited to respond to the invitation of God; an invitation to live in the sure and ultimate hope of redemption and Godly transformation through faith in the cosmically important person of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.
The acceptance of this invitation should lead to actions that reveal the Kingdom of God and the presence of Jesus in our lives and in this world as we look to embrace the light within us, before sharing that light to a world that is often shadowed by darkness. The cosmic Christ revealed in John’s Gospel should inspire us to extend the grace, love and mercy received from him to all creation, and it is in these actions and by sharing the Good News of Jesus that we tell the world that all things matter to God. The Incarnation of God was and still is Good News for all of creation, and our duty is to reveal this truth to others and so reveal Christ to a world made by him, for him and through him, but that does not know him, for the glory of his name across the universe he himself birthed.
