I swear it was a swivel

There were no Wookies. I won't complain about anything else in the new Star Wars movie because that is damning enough. 

No more critiquing.

I'm just thankful for getting to see Darth Vader enter with a hip swivel. 
Seriously. Watch him walk. 
I've been imitating it all night. 

I'm also thankful for the brilliant dialogue that makes George Lucas look like a mastermind in comparison. "Probe the shield" has given us a new euphemism to replace "taking a nap." 

Okay, the movie was not my favorite. I felt like I paid for every action scene by suffering through way too many sermons.   

But, the weird part was that the sermons seemed to ennoble a warped rebellion. 

When I took physics in high school, Mr. Bible had us write an essay on whether the "ends justify the means." I had no idea what that meant or what it had to do with physics so I wrote a pathetic piece regarding Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" campaign. I'm sorry Mr. Bible. I'm still not sure how it is related to physics.

Does a noble goal justify destructive or less than noble methods? 

Do you fight for the idea of peace?

There is one scene in the movie and I'm not going to get this totally right, but part of the rebel crew is ready to go into battle and the speech goes something like, 
"We've all done horrible things in the name of the rebellion and if it ends with surrender how will we live with ourselves?" 

I suppose I would have enjoyed the movie more if they had actually wrestled with that dilemma more, but probably not. I just like the fight scenes anyway. 

Do the ends justify the means? It's worth the wrestling.

There are several guiding principles that I hold onto in the midst of rebelling:

Dostoevsky's quote, "The more I love humanity in general, the less I love man in particular." Beware of self-righteous ends that leave us despising and destroying the people around us.

St. Paul's quote, "Faith, hope and love abide, but the greatest of these is love." Rebellions are built on hope, but so is terrorism. 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer's, "We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God.” Pay attention. Listen. Hold courage and humility in tension.