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Did you ever notice in most of the old movies how the credits are at the front and they don’t share much information? Take the classic The Wizard of Oz. The overture begins with a rousing fanfare, followed by musical allusions to the key songs in the show. Visually, we see the Metro Goldwyn Mayer logo featuring the roaring lion and the words “Metro Goldwyn Mayer presents,” and of course the title of the film. The copyright is in Roman numerals, “A Victor Fleming Production,” and then the names of eight principal actors (Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Billie Burke, Margaret Hamilton, and Charley Grapewin, along with the words “AND THE MUNCHKINS” are displayed. Three names are credited with writing the script though at least eleven people had a hand in crafting the screenplay. The name of the author of the original book, L. Frank Baum gets a mention. The names of the lyricist and composer, and a few other names involved in conducting or orchestrating the piece. A few department heads involved in filming, building sets, special effects, costumes, and makeupare named, the producer, a director (there was more than one, and a dedication “to the Young in Heart.)

And that’s that.

Though thousands of people were involved in the making of Oz there was no additional information at the end — just a simple “The End,” a few bold musical notes, and that’s it. It’s over.

Nowadays, it’s just the opposite. There may be a few listings at the beginning, but at the end every single person who had a hand in every aspect of the film is there. Credits run for six or eight or ten minutes or more. films, naming every single person who worked on every aspect of the movie, running for six or eight or ten minutes or more. And while many will leave the theater as soon as the credits start rolling, many will stay because they know that in addition to the credits will be outtakes, bloopers, perhaps a few clips that further the plot line, some Easter Eggs, and maybe, at the very end, a quick clip that’s a shocker letting you know there’s no way you can miss the sequel.

How did we get here? To be sure, there were always a few outliers that shared credits at the end, like Around the World in 80 Days (1956) and West Side Story (1961) but right up until the late seventies such blockbuster films as The Sound of Music, The Godfather, Jaws, and Rocky displayed minimal credits.

But that all changed when George Lucas broke the rules — both unwritten and union — with the first Star Wars film. Before that, the old studio system required a bare minimum of names: the producer, director, writers, key actors, and studio heads were presented during the opening couple of minutes, and little else. But their grip was loosening in the 70s when Star Wars burst on the scene.

Nowadays, with the Star Wars franchise safely ensconced on its throne in so many groundbreaking ways, it’s hard to recall that the whole project was touch and go. There were many obstacles to overcome, including having to invent a whole new way to create unprecedented special effects. Many in the industry had no faith Lucas could pull it off — so in order to display gratitude for those who stood by him at every level of production Lucas generously decided to thank everyone who had a hand in the film.

He immediately ran up against union rules which required the director and author be named at the star of the film, but Lucas wanted nothing to distract from the non-stop excitement from the get-go, beginning with the crawl that called to mind the encapsulation of previous episodes that opened the movie serials from the old days of double features with cartoon, newsreel, and the serial. The union relented, rationalizing that the words LucasFilm technically named both director and writer.

However, with the release of the sequel The Empire Strikes Back, which Lucas did not direct, the Director’s Guild fined Director Irvin Kershner $25,000 for failing to insist his name be listed during the film’s opening. Lucas paid the fine himself, resigned from both the director’s and writer’s guilds, and went about changing the practice across the entire industry.

Which brings us to today’s lectionary passage, and the two verses excluded from the reading. Both include a list of jawbreakers, the names of those who helped during the reading of scripture to aid in the listener’s understanding. And they deserve to be in the credits by having their names spoken when the lectionary passage is read from the lectern. Since the scriptures read were written in Hebrew, and the people spoke Aramaic, they were in the position of someone who speaks Spanish listening to the Bible read in Italian. It sounds almost understandable, but it isn’t, quite. So, these helpers were crucial.

My guess is that verses 4 and 7 were deleted from today’s reading because worship leaders complained about having to pronounce these jawbreakers, we’re not only cheating them of their credit, but also missing something important about worship in the post exilic era. Prior to the exile, worship centered around animal sacrifice, with the king as the key player and the mediator between God and the people. Now there was no more king. More people than ever were directly involved in worship and they deserve getting a credit!

These verses are a reminder that worship involves many people, including some behind the scenes who create worship centers, decorate the altars, put a glass of water in the pulpit, vacuum the sanctuary ahead of time, etc. They’re worth a sermon of their own.

(Much of this information comes from conversation with film historian, Dan Bullard. Information about George Lucas and Star Wars see “George Lucas: A Life” by Brian Jay Jones, Little, Brown and Company, 2016.)