A New Hope.

I love Star Wars.
I was transfixed by the movies when I was young (I have theories about this – but another time, another place :o) and I would spend hours playing with my action figures with friends… needless to say you’d always befriend the kid with the Millennium Falcon or an AT-AT Walker.

When I was young [and foolish] my favourite of the 3 movies was Return of the Jedi. As I matured into my teenage years the bleak powerless struggle of The Empire Strikes Back began to appeal to me more. Now, however, in my thirties I would say that there is nothing to compare to the first Star Wars movie, A New Hope.

This was bouncing around in my head over the weekend because as Christians we do not have a new hope but a living one:
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Pet 1:3 NIV)

Now the idea of a ‘living hope’ is weird – think about it. Hope is essentially something lifeless; it does not yet exist because it is something that you hope for. When I was a boy I would hope for certain Christmas presents, but this hope never made them exist; hope only became something tangible once I had received the gift and opened it. Up until that moment my hope was a lifeless idea (although it did excite me and keep me up at night).

This, however, does not describe our ‘living hope’. Our hope is not lifeless; it is life-giving because it is thoroughly infused with power through Christ’s resurrection! This hope we have [in Christ] is something tangible, real, and alive.

You are alive today because you have a living hope. Let this living hope overflow in your conversation, humour, and actions.

-Andrew Carey