A church in Berlin marked the release of the new Star Wars movie with a service on Sunday.

Children carried toy lightsabers to the church and some of the congregation dressed up as Darth Vader.

An organist played the movie series' theme and Ulrike Garve, a vicar in training, opened the Protestant service with the words "The wait is over - the Force has awakened!"

A screen set up next to the altar showed a clip from a Star Wars movie in which Luke Skywalker fights off Darth Vader and declares to The Emperor that he will never turn to the Dark Side.

The movie advocates eschewing violence, a message in line with the one found in the New Testament of the Christian Bible, in which some passages refer to overcoming evil with good, the church said.

However, some on social media called the service "sinful" and "disgraceful."

(Xinhua)