I’ve spoken to multiple people who connect the Star Wars idea of The Force to what they experience as a divine, beyond-the-physical-universe, spiritual power. It’s the vague-but-real sense of experiencing Nature. I know some Unitarians who, when asked whom they are praying to, say “Love.” Warm, fuzzy, safe.
Jesus used the descriptor of ‘friends’ for his disciples:
“I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:15, NIV)
“I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more.” (Luke 12:4, NIV)
Jesus replied, “Do what you came for, friend.” Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him. (Matthew 26:50, NIV)
He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” “No,” they answered. (John 21:5, NIV)
The Force is impersonal, abstract. Friendship is intensely personal. Friends like one another and enjoy being together. I’m speaking here of true friendship, not ‘Facebook’ friends.
The conviction that Jesus likes me as His disciple, and enjoys me, sustains me through up and down days and weeks. This conviction converts crushing loneliness into rich solitude. A personal connection, being known, is to some far less safe than an abstract and distant ‘divine power.’ But I will take the embrace of friendship as the greater treasure. As Mr. Beaver said of Aslan, ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
