Religion: A Pastor Ponders

Casting Shadows

by Pastor William Jenkins

Submitted for June 3, 2005

In a Wal-Mart store several years ago I saw a poster for the Star Wars movie, “Phantom Menace”. It showed a young Anakin Skywalker standing in front of what appeared to be the wall of a stone dwelling. He had a look of innocence on his face.

I had seen the poster before but had never paid attention to the shadow young Anakin cast on the wall. It was the shadow of the man he would grow up to become…Darth Vader, the embodiment of evil in all the Star Wars episodes.

I pondered: How does it happen that youthful innocence comes under the spell of evil? What malignant power manages to capture the fancy of our young people? How can these ominous shadows be defeated?

These are questions puzzling child development experts. The usual answers call for more money and new programs. If money and programs could fix the problems of the human spirit America would be a veritable paradise.

The poster in question hinted that somewhere between youth and adulthood Anakin Skywalker took a bad turn. The current episode of the Star Wars saga, “Revenge of the Sith”, tells us how it happened.

Still, I wonder how light shining on a young boy can cast so ominous a shadow. Something Jesus said in Matthew 6:23 comes to mind, “If the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness?” The darkness in Young Anakin served as the lens through which the light passed to cast the shadow. To change the shadow, the darkness within must be changed.

The darkness or the light within each of us determines the shadow we cast and the kind of person we become. The Apostle John announced Jesus as the “Light of the World” who shines in the darkness overpowering the shadows of evil.

There is no better way to rear young people or to transform adults than the light-giving and life-giving advantage of a lens-changing relationship with Jesus Christ. I do not believe we were created to cast dark and ominous shadows; quite the opposite. Ponder the shadow you are casting.

Posted on July 13, 2005

League City United Methodist Church is located at 1411 Main Street (FM 518), one block east of Interstate 45. For information, call the church offices at 281-332-1557 or visit the website at

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