It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire. During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet. Pursued by the Empire’s sinister agents, Princess Leia races home aboard her starship, custodian of the stolen plans that can save her people and restore freedom to the galaxy…..
The opening crawl to the original Star Wars (1977, dir. George Lucas).

At the beginning of the space opera, Star Wars (and its sequels and prequels), a crawl introduces us to the world in which we will spend a couple of hours. It gives us the backstory to a world with a history that we won’t get to see but need to know in order to understand what is to come.

This storytelling device, perhaps made uber famous by George Lucas, actually dates to early 20c. film serials like Flash Gordon and WW2 films that bring in media res…“in the middle of things.” It’s a handy way to bring you up to speed while situating you in the vastness of a storyscape.

Write an opening crawl for the Acts of the Apostles given what you know from the book’s prequel, The Gospel According to Luke. What crawl would make Acts and the story of the early Christians exciting, knowing what you know of the events that came before in the evangelist’s telling?