Jesus - the Force of God
Jesus, coming to save
us, conqu'ring the grave
to free us from sin;
Jesus, you are the Force
and you are the source
of new life within.
For in you the fullness of the
Godhead was pleased to dwell,
you're the firstborn over all creation,
when you came you rescued us from
empires of sin and hell,
and transformed us
to your pure and holy nation.
Jesus, coming to save
us, conqu'ring the grave
to free us from sin;
Jesus, you are the Force
and you are the source
of new life within.
Now in you we've strength and skill
and courage when clones are near:
We're your army for your truth and justice.
By your Force within us we will
light-sabre drones of fear,
and we're confident of vict'ry if you lead us.
Jesus, coming to save
us, conqu'ring the grave
to free us from sin;
Jesus, you are the Force
we welcome you close
to come within.
Words copyright © John Hartley 2005
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The children at St Cuthbert's Wrose had been looking at themes arising from the "Star Wars" movies during June, and they wanted a church service to finish the series and summarise the main points - so Paul Walker, the vicar, asked me if I could put my thinking-cap on for some words to a suitable tune for it. Did you see it on BBC's "Look North" on 26th June, or in the T&A on 24th?
How do you put words to a tune like this? Here's how:
- The "god" bit in the Star Wars films is the "Force", so I asked myself how St John would have begun his gospel if he'd been writing in the Galctic Empire. Wouldn't he have said "In the beginning was the Force ..."? And wouldn't his punchline (v14) have been "and the Force became flesh and lived among us"? So the song's message is: Jesus is God's Force, how God gets things done in the world.
- Then verse 1 comes from Colossians 1, unpacking who Jesus is and what he's done.
- And verse 2 says how Jesus can live in us, and give us his power in our lives.
- Add some other "Star Wars" words like "empire", "clone", "light-sabre", and mess about with the words until they rhyme ... and that's it! (The tune is on our web site).
Songs have a serious purpose. Do you know God's force - Jesus - in your life?
John Hartley
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