This guy is almost as cool as I am. Almost. He does provide an excellent segue into yesterday and today's Legos: a TIE fighter and a TIE pilot.
I am glad that two subsequent day's Legos actually go together - makes my job easier, but how that pilot gets into that little TIE fighter is beyond me.
Trivia break: TIE is an acronym. What does it stand for? Say it with me fellow nerds: Twin Ion Engine. For this, I went to seminary.
While this series has been a nerdy, Adventy discipline, I will admit it has strained my fandom a bit. I do love the movies and I will confess to playing a few of the games from time to time, but I have never been very familiar with the EU, the Expanded Universe. The EU is where the back stories and subplots, not written by George Lucas but presumably approved by him, before, during, and after the movies occur, usually found in books and comics. In doing the research for my blogposts, I have encountered the EU almost every day. It is quite impressive and the level of creativity and detail contained therein is a credit to the EU's many authors and creators.
I stumbled across one EU factoid today that floored me: Han Solo used to be a TIE pilot. Apparently, according to his bio, he was an Imperial officer for some time and piloted a TIE fighter, but was dishonorably discharged when he refused to participate in the beating of a certain Wookiee. And the rest is, as they say, history.
Every year, Episcopal priest and artist Jay Sidebotham produces an Advent Calendar. Each day features a sketch and a very brief (one to two sentences) comment for the day. One of my favorite appeared a few years ago - it said something like, "having trouble with someone?" "Pray for them each day in Advent." Pray for "that person?" THAT person! Each of us has THAT person. We may believe we are enlightened, welcoming, progressive types that welcome all people, but a large majority of us have THAT person. S/he could be a colleague, a competitor, a boss, a family member, a client, a parishioner, a leader or member of a political party, or just someone who gets on your nerves or makes your skin crawl.
Why do we dislike THAT person so much? We may have been genuinely wronged, that person might be a bona fide idiot (in your opinion), or the two of you just butt heads. Or maybe that person is a whole lot more like you than you care to admit and that alarms you. And yet, under their exterior, under that poisonous shell you and/or they have created, they are made in the image of God. That might be hard to admit when you want them to shut their mouth, stop sharing their opinion, and take a long walk off a short pier. That also might be hard to admit when you have succumb to the sin of hate. Regardless, that person has just as much right to be as you do. And you never know, underneath that exterior, there could be a Han Solo waiting to blossom.
In this Advent season, pray for THAT person. Really pray for them - empathize, reorient, perhaps even love them. They might be right. They also might be a jerk face. Or a combination of the two. But that is God's job to sort out. Our job is to love all equally. We might disagree. We might vehemently argue. But they are still as worthy as we are.
This isn't merely a reworking of "don't judge a book by its cover." I hope my point is a bit deeper. The Christmas story is about a Holy Child whose birth was announced to kings and shepherds alike. And sometimes one looks like the other.
Have a great evening. See you tomorrow. Blessed advent.
Why do we dislike THAT person so much? We may have been genuinely wronged, that person might be a bona fide idiot (in your opinion), or the two of you just butt heads. Or maybe that person is a whole lot more like you than you care to admit and that alarms you. And yet, under their exterior, under that poisonous shell you and/or they have created, they are made in the image of God. That might be hard to admit when you want them to shut their mouth, stop sharing their opinion, and take a long walk off a short pier. That also might be hard to admit when you have succumb to the sin of hate. Regardless, that person has just as much right to be as you do. And you never know, underneath that exterior, there could be a Han Solo waiting to blossom.
In this Advent season, pray for THAT person. Really pray for them - empathize, reorient, perhaps even love them. They might be right. They also might be a jerk face. Or a combination of the two. But that is God's job to sort out. Our job is to love all equally. We might disagree. We might vehemently argue. But they are still as worthy as we are.
This isn't merely a reworking of "don't judge a book by its cover." I hope my point is a bit deeper. The Christmas story is about a Holy Child whose birth was announced to kings and shepherds alike. And sometimes one looks like the other.
Have a great evening. See you tomorrow. Blessed advent.
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