Daily Word of Grace (March 30, 2020)

On a rainy October afternoon in 1977 my dad took me to see the first Star Wars film: Star Wars: Episode IV-A New Hope, and I’ll never forget that.  And yes, I can remember vividly seeing each of the subsequent eight films in this series-which theater and with what friends or family.  These films have resonated with so many people for so many years for many reasons, one of which is that a recurring theme is hope, from Episode IV: A New Hope all the way through.  In the 2017 film from this franchise, Star Wars: Episode VIII-The Last Jedi, Vice Admiral Holdo (played by Laura Dern) quotes one of Princess Leia’s favorite sayings, “Hope is like the sun-if you only believe in it when you see it, you’ll never make it through the night.”  (Yes, like most metaphors this one has holes in it, and it is pretty hokey too, but bear with me because Star Wars is awesome).  The gospel of God’s love is good news of hope during this collective “night”-“We also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Romans 5:3-5).  God freely gives us this hope-specifically, “the hope laid up for you in heaven”-in Jesus Christ; moreover, “you have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel, that has come to you” (Colossian 1:5).  Today may God stir up in your heart anew (and a new) hope in Jesus Christ.