Jacob and the Jedi

In fantasy, like the Star Wars movie, Attack of the Clones, for example, we are assured that "the Force will be with you." In real life, when "nations are in an uproar," and "kingdoms totter," how can we believe that "the LORD of hosts is with us, a very present help in trouble?"

It happened a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. The year was 1977, and in so many ways we were all living on a different planet.

The Soviet Union was America’s biggest threat. Disco ruled. Students wrote papers on typewriters. No one was surfing the Internet. Cell phones were not chirping in church services.

That summer, 25 years ago, the first Star Wars movie appeared, and in it an impetuous young hero named Luke Skywalker was told that Obi-Wan Kenobi had fought with Skywalker’s father in “the Clone Wars.”

At the time, no one thought a thing about it. People were too stunned by the film’s groundbreaking special effects to notice any mention of “the Clone Wars.”
But now, the war has started.

Two weeks ago, the fifth film of the popular Star Wars series debuted: Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones. This is the sequel to 1999’s Episode I - The Phantom Menace, and a prequel to the very first 1977 Star Wars, which has been renamed A New Hope.

Attack of the Clones picks up 10...