Berlin’s Zion Church nearly doubled their normal attendance on Sunday when they packed in roughly 500 people for a Star Wars themed service, marking this weekend’s blockbuster release of the long-awaited sequel The Force Awakens.
Instead of the usual Sunday worship music, the attendees who happened to be in their Star Wars gear and costumes, were welcomed with the movie’s iconic theme song played on the church’s organ.
Of course some people thought the church’s decision to cater to pop culture craze was ‘unholy’, but church leaders combated the criticism by drawing attention to the message of the service which effectively tied Star Wars and Christianity together, with a new hope of reaching a set of people who may have otherwise not been inspired to open a Bible.
“Star Wars picks up religious images, including Christian images and maybe some from other religions,” Protestant pastor Lucas Ludwig told The Guardian after the service. “In doing so, it shows that the Bible and the church are part of our culture that keeps being reworked and reinterpreted.”
Source: Reuters, The Guardian
Photo: Adapted from Steffen Zahn [Flickr]
