Faith Wars

Episode II

The Battle Within

 

Jack Frost Parade

Sunday, November 6, 2016

3:00pm - 5:00pm

    Our Star Wars based theme for the 2016 Robesonia Jack Frost Parade: "Faith Wars - Episode II - The Battle Within." 

    The float theme was chosen by our teen Sunday school class and birthed from this fall's Mind, Body, & Spirit after school program theme "Heroes vs Villains of the Bible."

     We invited youth and adults alike to walk in the parade and come dressed as heroes or villains.  Heroes could include super heros, Star Wars heros, Biblical heros, modern heros (firemen, doctors, nurses, police officers, military, EMTs, etc), historic heros; or wear their "St. Paul's t-shirt"; or wear their Halloween costume (as we didn't want parents to feel they needed to buy their child a second costume this year).

     To help share God's light through St. Paul's UCC, we handed out 1,000 lollipops, which included our church's name and website address.  Perhaps you are visiting this webpage because of one of those lollilops; if so, welcome, check out the various outreach missions and ministries, and let us know if there are ways in which we can better share God's love and light with you.

    The description of our float, read at the judges' stand was:

St. Paul’s United Church of Christ of Robesonia presents a float based on the theme from this fall’s Mind, Body, & Spirit after school program, which is “Heros vs Villains.”  God helps us to overcome the villains and darkness in our lives, enabling us to experience the light; God can even transform and redeem the bad into good, the villain into a hero.     Anakin Skywalker battled much evil around him throughout his life, but the greatest battle was within between the dark and the light.     St. Paul’s United Church of Christ seeks to help youth and adults alike find the hero within, to choose light over darkness, and to do so together in mutual love, support, and care.  The force of light can be strong within you, let us help to reveal how.

Our hand-crafted banner on the side of the truck read:

"Helping all choose God's light in the battle against the darkness." 

     Thank you to all who helped build the float, donated supplies, donated the use of the trailer and truck, donated candy (and dog treats), donated costumes and props, donated equipment for sound and effects, came dressed in hero or villain outfits, walked/rode in the parade, handed out candy and dog treats, sent pictures for the website and facebook pages, and helped to clean up afterwards.

    Thank to all who helped that day to share our church and God's light in a fun way, as we participated in this wonderful community event.

     As we headed down Penn Ave, we played the Star Wars Imperial March (Darth Vader's theme song), handed out candy and dog treats, and shared a message that we seek to help all choose God's light in everyone's battle against the darkness.

     Viewing Note: You can click on the first picture in the following photo gallery to view enlarged pictures, and then simply click "next" on the enlarged picture to scroll through them as large photos.

     Below are the pictures from the process of building the float.  Our youth group designed this year's float and banners.  Over the course of a few weeks, we had six teens/tweens and 13 adults working together to help build the float over the course of about 30 hours, for a total of 19 people helping with the construction.  In the parade we had nine youth and six adults walking or riding, for a total of 15 parade participants, giving us a total of 24 people who participated in the parade and/or helped with the construction of the float.

 

     On Sunday, November 6, the float was assembled on the truck, our participants put on their costumes and headed to Conrad Weiser Hight School, where we made a few last minute adjustments, and strapped in our two actors: Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker.  As we headed down Penn Ave, the battle within began. 

    Those who are fans of Star Wars will probably understand why a battle between Darth Vader and Anakin is a battle within.  If you are not sure, we invite you to ask.  More importantly, we invite you to come and share in the faith at St. Paul's UCC where we help all choose God's light in the battle against the darkness.

     This Star Wars themed float was subtitled "Episode II."  Our "Episode I" took place earlier this year, as we shared in a Star Wars themed worship service in January 2016.  You can click on this 2016 Star Wars Worship Service link to view pictures and a summary from that worship service.

     For information and pictures from a previous "Heros" themed worship service, click on this 2015 Holy Humor Sunday link.

     For additional photos from this year's parade, click on this Jack Frost Parade - 2016 - Facebook Photos link.

     To view photos from other years, click on the following links:

          Jack Frost Parade - 2015 - "Something's Cooking at St. Paul's"

          Jack Frost Parade - 2014 - "Fishers of Men"

          Jack Frost Parade - 2013 - First Year of the Parade

 

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