Lessons from the Guardians of the Galaxy movie
from Neil MacQueen
Creative Christian educators, youth leaders, and pastors have been reviewing, discussing, and "sampling" secular movies for decades. Many even include references in their sermons. Doing so helps young people and adults see the biblical themes and parallels in popular media, harnesses the highly memorable visual and emotional impact of movies for spiritual growth, and reinforces your teaching points when the movie is viewed again (and again).
Our Writing Team's Ruth Video Workshop lesson uses this same time-honored teaching technique.
After watching the Ruth video, the lesson explores the term "Guardian-Redeemer" (lit. Gaw-al' in Hebrew) which is used eight times in the Book of Ruth by the NIV, and memorably connects it to a powerful scene in the popular Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Then the kids complete an "I Am a Guardian-Redeemer of the Galaxy" movie poster we made for this lesson. The lesson comes with a discussion guide for BOTH the Ruth video and a downloadable video clip we created that uses the scene from Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Check it out! 
Visual Parables, the movie review ministry of Rev. Ed McNulty, is one of the most well-known and appreciated. And fortunately for us, Ed has posted all his movie reviews online at https://readthespirit.com/visual-parables/.
Excerpt of Ed's review of Guardians of the Galaxy's final scenes:
"They decide to stand together. They decide that they are more powerful together than individually. This is a beautiful image of the church.
I love the verse in Ecclesiastes that says, 'Though one can be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken' (Ecclesiastes 4:12). This truth is what the Guardians of the Galaxy learn as they stand united against Ronan."
The Gospel From Outer Space was one of the most influential publications about Christian themes in movies. First published and widely read in the 1980s, Rev. Robert Short's book explored the biblical parallels and messages lurking in Superman, E.T., Star Wars, 2001, and Close Encounters. Though since passed, I'm sure Robert would have included Guardians of the Galaxy in an update. You can find reviews online of newer movies by other pastors and teachers.
Like many teachers in Sunday school, many pastors like to reference popular media in their sermons, and there are resources on the web to help them do so.
In fact, if you're using the Ruth Video Lesson, you might want to share the Ruth Bible Background from the Writing Team and the following "Ten Life Lessons" with your pastor who might be interested in preaching about the Guardian-Redeemer of Our Galaxy to dovetail with what you are teaching in Sunday school.
The following is an excerpt from Rev Mark Sandlin's blog post about the "Ten Life Lessons from the Guardians of the Galaxy" posted at Patheos.com. Read the post for the full quotes. I'm just going to excerpt the headlines here:
1) A little can say a lot. (About Groot's economy of words.)
2) Music is powerful. (Peter Quill, a.k.a. Star Lord, is practically transported by music. “O-o-h child things are gonna get easier. O-o-h child things’ll get brighter.”)
3) You don’t have to agree on everything in order to work together.
4) Most of our biases aren’t about reality. They are about ignorance.
5) Dancing is one of the best things ever. (David knew this, too.)
6) “I was a fool. All the anger, all the rage, was just to cover my loss.” – Drax
7) Love grows.
8) “Life is giving us a chance.” – Star Lord
9) There are things in life that are too big to handle on our own.
10) Like it or not, we are in this thing called life together.
I'm also proud to say that all three of the pastors mentioned in this article are from my PCUSA denomination, a denomination not always known for its media or creativity. Ed and Robert in particular resourced and enlightened generations of pastors—including me.
Neil MacQueen
Minister on-the-loose in the PCUSA and Lead Writer at Rotation.org
