On a recent Friday evening, on the second floor of The Grog restaurant and bar in downtown Newburyport, Mass., a small group of faithful sit in the corner of the room underneath a flat-screen television, glasses of beer and wine in hand. On the screen the Red Sox are losing their match-up against the Toronto Blue Jays. But those gathered aren’t the usual baseball devotees there for the game. This is a bimonthly meeting of Pub Theology Newburyport, and the group is there to discuss religion, spirituality, “Star Wars,” the riots in Baltimore, and everything in between.

Clad in a black and white checkerboard sport coat and jeans, the Rev. Ogun Holder leads the conversation from his perch on a windowsill. The evening’s topic of discussion is faith through the lens of the “Star Wars” films. On the coffee tables in the middle of the group are strips of paper with six discussion topics that range from the Force, the belief that guides the heroes of the “Star Wars” movies, to the recent riots in Baltimore. The first question is an icebreaker: what is your favorite line from “Star Wars”?