{"id":3102,"date":"2015-02-22T18:46:31","date_gmt":"2015-02-23T02:46:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/?p=3102"},"modified":"2016-10-10T13:10:10","modified_gmt":"2016-10-10T20:10:10","slug":"on-lent-and-avoiding-the-star-wars-effect-homily-for-the-first-sunday-of-lent-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/on-lent-and-avoiding-the-star-wars-effect-homily-for-the-first-sunday-of-lent-2015","title":{"rendered":"On Lent and Avoiding the Star Wars Effect – Homily for the First Sunday of Lent 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"LukeEvery year on the First Sunday of Lent,
\nthe gospel takes us into the desert
\nwhere Jesus was tested for forty days.
\nAnd we follow Jesus into the desert for these forty days of Lent
\nso that our hearts can be transformed, so that we can be ready
\nto enter fully into the Mystery of Easter.
\nThis means being careful of the Star Wars<\/em> Effect.<\/p>\n

When the original Star Wars<\/em> movie came out in 1977,
\nevery kid my age wanted to see it.
\nIt was the first movie my dad took me and my two brothers to see.
\nIt was a groundbreaking film in many ways.
\nThe film makers made spaceships fly,
\nbrought alien creatures to life, and built alien worlds.
\nThere was one setting in particular
\nthat was extremely difficult to create:
\nthe desert planet Tatooine
\nwhere the hero Luke Skywalker lived.
\nTo bring this desert planet to life,
\nthe film makers went to Tunisia, in North Africa.
\nIt took eight weeks for bulldozers and tractors
\nto reshape the land,
\nto transform the desert of Tunisia into the iconic sets
\nwhere Luke and Obi-Wan would meet for the first time,
\nwhere Jawas and the Sand People lived.
\nThe actors and crew spent two and half weeks
\nin the heat, wind, and sand of the Tunisian desert.
\nBut the harsh conditions paid off,
\nas Star Wars<\/em> became one of the most successful films of all time.<\/p>\n

During Lent we are driven into the desert.
\nNot to make a movie, but to make a change in our lives.<\/p>\n

Just as Jesus spent forty days in the desert among wild beasts,
\ntested by Satan,
\nthe forty days of Lent are to be our time in the desert.
\nWe come to the place of heat, wind, and sand.
\nWe have been driven here by the Spirit, marked with ashes.
\nThis is our time of testing, of facing our demons.<\/p>\n

The desert experience
\nhas been a part of salvation history
\nfrom the very beginning.<\/p>\n

Moses fasted for forty days on Mt. Sinai
\nand he received the tablets of the covenant.
\nAnd when the Israelites were unfaithful to the covenant,
\nMoses broke the tablets,
\nbut then fasted for another forty days in penance,
\nuntil God wrote the tablets again.<\/p>\n

The prophet Elijah walked through the desert
\nforty days and nights to find God on Mt. Horeb.<\/p>\n

The Israelites wandered forty years in the desert
\nbefore reaching the promised land.<\/p>\n

And today we see Jesus as the perfection
\nof the desert experience.
\nImmediately after his baptism he is driven into the desert
\nwhere the wild beasts are, where Satan tests him.<\/p>\n

Through our baptism,
\nwe join with Jesus in the desert and confront our demons.<\/p>\n

The desert is a necessary part of an authentic spiritual life.<\/p>\n

The solitude of the desert of Lent
\ngives us time to spend with God in prayer.
\nOur fasting helps us recognize what habits and attitudes
\nhave been holding us prisoner.
\nIn the desert we can draw on the strength of God
\nto be angels who minister to the poor and needy among us.<\/p>\n

Jesus returned victorious from his time in the desert
\nto announce, \u201cRepent, and believe in the gospel.\u201d
\nThe word \u201crepent\u201d is a translation of the Greek word metanoia,
\n\u201ca change of heart.\u201d
\nJesus says,\u201cChange your heart and believe in the gospel.\u201d
\nWe go to the desert of Lent so our hearts can be changed.<\/p>\n

But they cannot change if we give in to the Star Wars<\/em> Effect.<\/p>\n

Star Wars<\/em> was so successful that it led two sequels.
\nAnd each of those movies required exotic, alien locations.
\nIn The Empire Strikes Back<\/em>, film makers created the ice planet Hoth
\nby filming on an actual glacier in Norway.
\nIn Return of the Jedi<\/em> a thrilling speeder chase took place
\non the forest moon of Endor
\nby using footage from the Redwood forests of California.
\nBut with each movie,
\nthe films relied less and less on real locations,
\nand more and more on sound studios and special effects.<\/p>\n

In fact, when a new series of Star Wars<\/em> movies was made,
\ntwenty years after the original movie,
\nalmost all of the sets and backgrounds were created digitally.
\nThe actors stood in front of a green screen waving light sabers
\npretending they were on location
\nwhile a computer added the backgrounds later.
\nThey appeared to be in the desert,
\nbut they were in the safety of the sound studio.<\/p>\n

Now that might make good sense if you\u2019re filming a movie.
\nIt\u2019s easier on the actors, it\u2019s less expensive,
\nand it gives the film makers more freedom
\nto create the worlds they want.
\nBut even in a movie with the best digital effects
\nyou lose something of the grittiness or the texture
\nof a real location.
\nThe second Star Wars<\/em> series looks more sterile,
\nmore artificial than the first series.<\/p>\n

And as we come to Lent year after year,
\nit\u2019s tempting to stand in front of a green screen,
\nhaving the appearance of entering the desert of Lent,
\nbut not really entering it;
\nhaving the look of participating in Lent,
\nbut not really going through the difficulty of being in the desert,
\nof facing our personal demons,
\nof having to tolerate the heat and sand.
\nIt\u2019s easier, it\u2019s less costly to our comfort, it give us more freedom,
\nbut it\u2019s less authentic, too.
\nIt\u2019s less real.
\nAnd most importantly, there\u2019s no room for a change of heart.<\/p>\n

And so as we enter our first full week of Lent,
\nit would be good for us to consider
\nwhether or not the desert we have entered into
\nis the real desert that Christ experienced,
\nor whether it\u2019s a superficial green screen desert experience.<\/p>\n

The challenge before us this Lent
\nis to avoid the Star Wars<\/em> Effect,
\nthe temptation to a superficial experience of the desert.<\/p>\n

When we look at what we have decided to do for Lent,
\nare we simply standing in front of a green screen,
\nhaving the appearance of being among the wild beasts
\nand demons,
\nhaving the appearance of fasting,
\nor have we truly committed to going into the desert?<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the time of fulfillment,\u201d Jesus says.
\nThat doesn\u2019t simply mean,
\n\u201cLent has rolled around on the calendar again.\u201d
\nThe word for time in this passage is the Greek work kairos<\/em>.
\nKairos<\/em> is different from chronological time,
\ncalendar time, day-after-day time.
\nKairos<\/em> is the opportune time, the moment when God acts.<\/p>\n

God is acting right now, driving us into the desert.
\nThis time of fulfillment is the opportune time
\nfor us to overcome the temptation to a superficial green screen Lent,
\nand really enter the desert this year
\nso our hearts can be changed.<\/p>\n

And if we truly enter the desert,
\nwe follow in the footsteps of Moses, Elijah, and the Israelites;
\nbut more importantly we walk in communion with Jesus.<\/p>\n

And just as Jesus survived the testing in the desert,
\nhe will survive death.
\nHis early victory over Satan in the desert
\nforeshadows his great victory over death on the cross.<\/p>\n

We are tested in the desert of this life,
\nbut our communion with Christ assures us of victory.
\nThe more we walk with Christ,
\nthe safer we are, the more we share in his victory.<\/p>\n

This is the time of fulfillment,
\nthe time to enter the desert of Lent,
\nto change our hearts,
\nand believe in the gospel.<\/p>\n