A long time ago in a church, far, far away, a vicar and his flock sang their final hymn to the theme tune of the Star Wars saga. Well, not that long ago, or far away, really. Last week, in fact, in West Yorkshire, a parish church held a special service to mark the release of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

It seems that in an increasingly secular Britain, vicars are turning to the Force to keep church attendance figures high, and to attract that crucial youth market.

Reverend Paul Walker explained that the service was inspired by the children of the Parish, who explored the ideas in the film in their catechism class, The BBC reports.

Walker said that the service covered the ideas of good and evil, resisting the temptation of the 'dark side', and what it means to have the force of God in your life. "We wanted a special service to bring these themes together and celebrate the victory of good over evil," he added.

This is not the first time religion and the Star Wars saga have crossed paths in the UK. In the most recent national census, 0.7 per cent of the population gave their religion as Jedi.

The BBC report did not reveal whether communion wafers were shaped as characters from the film, in keeping with the service's theme.

In related news, George Lucas confirmed that Lucasfilm's HQ has moved to the Letterman Digital Arts Centre in San Francisco, but that he will spend less time there in his role as corporate executive. Much like a politician retiring from public life to spend more time with his family, Lucas says he will stay away from the new HQ to spend more time with his other movie projects. ®

Related stories

Fearless Feds sink Star Wars pirate website
Yahoo! phishing attack targets Star Wars fans
Star Wars' galactic dollars