1977 was an eventful year.  Gasoline was 65 cents per gallon.  The new Apple computer cost a whopping 600 dollars, a lot of money especially in those days.  I graduated from high school in southern California and the Eagles released some of their biggest hits.  While there was much happening during this time on the world stage of great significance, something occurred that got many people in the country excited.  The first Star Wars movie was released.

To this day I remember standing in a line blocks long at 6925 Hollywood Blvd. waiting to get a ticket for a showing at Graumans Chinese theater, the place in front of which you can see the footprints of John Wayne, Doris Day, and Charlton Heston to name just a few.

The first film was superb and represents a classic battle between good and bad, what is right and evil, light and darkness.  With characters like R2-D2, Obi-Wan, and Princess Leia, the story line has captivated millions for decades.  Like in the first movie, Darth Vader was a malicious character in the films that followed.  In one film, Darth Vader said to Luke Skywalker, “If you only knew the power of the dark side.”

On one level such lines and the character of Darth Vader are entertaining and it should be left at that.  On another level, the story like many stories reflect a reality we all live in the midst of, which is the constant conflict between God and evil, good and wrong, light and darkness.  I am thinking about this because of what I encountered in a Target store the other day.  The store had 4-foot tall, standing and talking Darth Vader characters up and down aisles.

While shopping, every time I passed a motion sensitive Darth Vader character it spoke a line from a Star Wars movie.  The line I most often heard was “If you only knew the power of the dark side.”  I must have heard the message 15 times throughout the store.

I am all for profit making, capitalism, marketing, etc. as many people are employed through selling movie related items.  I do not believe in banning items from stores.  There really is nothing too terrible about a 4 foot Darth Vader character.  That said, the whole event at Target reminded me that we all, young and old alike, need to be attentive to whose voices we listen to and understand that there is an impact from every voice we hear, even those that are recorded.

Some messages we encounter are far from benign.  While having a 4-foot Darth Vader character in the house could be entertaining for some, it also provides for reflection and teaching and praying about the reality of darkness in our world, a darkness that cannot overcome the light of Jesus.

I pray we will all give much more attention and energy to voices of light, voices that reflect the words of Jesus we encounter in the Gospels.  And I pray we will do so whether shopping at Target, watching television, or overhearing the words of others we do not know.