From the Rev. Diana Peters

The Force be with You

And also with you!

You know where that greeting comes from don’t you? Right, i¯s how JEDI Knights greet each other. It's sort of their version of “The peace of the Lord be with you!”

I’ve always been intrigued by “The Force” that features prominently in JEDI spirituality. The Force is what gives them their extraordinary, miraculous even, powers. The Force is what is within each of them, guiding them, empowering them, and giving them wisdom. The Force is where they focus their attention, grounding themselves in it and striving to “be One with the Force.” And though they never put it this way, the Force is that in which they “live and move and have their being.” —Acts 17:28

I guess you can see where I’m going with this … The Force, I’m thinking, is their word for God. And if the JEDI Knights are those who strive to be One with the Force, then shouldn’t we all strive to be JEDIs?

We have a group here in the church that you’ve probably heard of. We call them the JEDI Council. Their job is to study, research, and advise the Vestry on how we can become a more inclusive church, a welcoming church, a multi-cultural church. And having met with them for nearly a year now, I’m finding that The Force is with them — mightily!

But the JEDI aren’t an exclusive group, not by any means. In fact, we’d like to invite all of you to become JEDI Knights, in pursuit of Oneness with The Force. We’d like you to go through JEDI training with us and to join with other JEDI Knights on a JEDI Quest into the mystery of The Force. Sound interesting? I hope so.

The journey begins this Summer. JEDI Boot Camp will convene on Sunday, July 4th, at 9:20, in the Library. We’ll talk about The Force and how it guides us, empowers us, and informs our lives. We’ll learn techniques to get in touch with The Force within us. And we’ll begin a holy Quest, a quest to solve a mysterious puzzle, a puzzle that each of us has a piece of. And as the summer moves on, we’ll discover more and more pieces of that puzzle, always seeking it, always fitting our pieces together. And hopefully, at the end of the summer, we’ll have pieced together a good portion of this puzzle, maybe enough to keep us searching for the rest of our lives.

I¯s a big puzzle, after all, a complicated puzzle and a downright beautiful puzzle. And we’re going to need a lot of Knights if we hope to put together enough of it to see what i¯s telling us. So come one, come all — because if you don’t, well, tha¯s a piece of the puzzle th t we may never find.

There’s more information later on in this newsletter, and you’ll be hearing more about it in church. But the only way to truly get into it is to participate in our Quest. I hope you will.

The Force be with you —