Olive Crest United Methodist Church
7180 North 60th Street
Omaha, Nebraska 68152

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Rev. Debra Tompsett-Welch

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The Spiritual Life

June 2002

A Question

By Rev. Michael Lee Burgess

When you suddenly discover how much you are loved, how do you deal with the feeling of being unworthy of such a gift? How do you repay, what cannot be repaid, except by doing love yourself? And is that enough?

I finally went to see Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones. While some of it is splendid, and some of it very frustrating, such as when they miss the point of the story they are trying to tell, there was one short scene that struck me very powerfully. It is in the very beginning of the movie. The ship carrying former Queen Amidala, now Senator Amidala to the Capital planet Coruscant is coming in for a landing accompanied by two fighter ship escorts. It would be like Air Force One carrying the president coming into a landing at an air base escorted by two F-15 fighters. The two fighters land with the large ship, and the larger, older pilot says to the younger, female pilot who still has her helmet on, "Well we made it, I guess I was wrong." Then we see Senator Amidala walking down the ramp in her formal robes, escorted by her aides and guards. Then a wall of fire hits and the entire ship blows up behind her. She is fatally injured. Our two pilots run forward, and the younger pilot throws off her helmet to reveal that she is the real Senator Amidala. She kneels by her decoy/body guard and lifts up her bloody head. Her body guard opens her eyes and whispers to her, "I'm sorry my lady." And she dies. Amidala is stammering, "no, no", while she is drug away by her guard captain, just like the secret service would do to a president.

I think George Lucas thought of this as just a throw away scene to establish the fact that Senator Amidala's life was in danger. But I saw it as much, much more. The young woman who gave up her life to save Amidala, did it for love of her, just as those around her would continue to do. It was not just duty, but love, and Amidala felt that way about them as well. In the previous movie she was quite willing to die for her subjects. Here is where we see the bright flame that will be passed on to Leia Organa and Luke Skywalker in the next series of movies and will end up saving the galaxy. This is the real power, the "force" that will bring about change for the better, a transcendent, sacrificial love.

Movies are not real life, but they can be powerful when they reflect reality and make living truths visible. Amidala's charisma, that force that draws people to her, is her love of them and her desire to serve them and try to make their lives better.

Hold on to that image, now I am going to put another story next to it. This one is from real life. It was told to Pastor William L. Stidger and reported by Wayne H. Keller in Emphasis, Nov/Dec, 1998, pp 41-42. I am going to paraphrase the story like I did the scene from Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones.

It is World War II. He is the captain of a transport ship filled to the deck plates with soldiers. My father told me how they would put in these bunks that were five high in a room so you had about 18 inches of height to sleep in. They could cram hundreds and hundreds of men into one of these transports, or almost two thousand into the big liners that had been converted. It is very late at night and you are tired and wish dawn would come so you could sleep. Suddenly you hear something that wipes all exhaustion from your mind and fills it with terror. The lookout is screaming torpedo. In the florescent sea you see a long white line pointed right at you. That is the trail of a torpedo and it means your death and hundreds and hundreds of sleeping men who will never have time to get out of their crowded bunks and into the freezing water of the North Atlantic. Your ship is fast, but she is heavily loaded and cannot turn quickly. You desperately start your turn, but you know it is way too late. Death is coming, not only for you, but for so very very many young men. Suddenly you notice something else. There is a smaller freighter in your convoy that was keeping station to your right. She is light and fast because she carries mostly ammunition, and now you see her bow wave shooting up over the front of her deck. She has gone to flank speed and she is deliberately trying to get between you and that torpedo. The seconds go by like hours when finally her bow covers up the line of death headed your way. You have a moment of disbelieving relief, you will live. Then you are hit with a wall of sound, and the thunder rolls across the waves. The torpedo strikes that small freighter and she explodes. All aboard her are killed and the brave little ship sinks into the freezing cold waters.

It is many years later, and our transport captain is quietly sharing with his pastor, "The skipper of that other ship was my best friend." He pauses for a moment, and then in a shaken voice continues; "You know, there is a verse in the Bible which has special meaning for me now. It is this: 'Greater love has no one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.'"

I started this by asking, "What do you do when your realize how much you are loved?" How do you respond to such a gift? We have a special Memorial Day in America to remember those who died that we might have the freedoms we do and the responsibility to care for those freedoms that were bought with so much blood. But we have a day every week to remember that a best friend we never knew we had, exerted his utmost to get between us and death. What do you do when you realize you are loved so much, and seen as so important, that another would die to keep you safe?

How you answer to that question will either bring you to joy and a desire to love others or haunt you with undone needs and unfinished work. It is not a hypothetical question, it is a lens through which you can see just how precious you are.

May God Bless you and bring you a strong, love-filled center to your life, even in the midst of trouble.

Your brother-in-Christ,
Reverend Michael Lee Burgess

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