Get Busy Living In Hope
Stories
Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit
Series V, Cycle C
If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. (vv. 17-19)
In the 1994 movie, The Shawshank Redemption, Tim Robbins plays Andy Dufresne, a young, hotshot banker in the 1940s. His life changes drastically when he is convicted for the murder of his wife and her secret lover and is sentenced to life imprisonment at Shawshank Prison.
With a calm, quiet demeanor, Andy seems out of place in prison. However, Andy's gentle spirit hides a great reserve of patience and fortitude, which keeps him from going insane. He is very isolated and lonely at first, but he gets to know the prison entrepreneur -- a life-timer named Red, played by Morgan Freeman who narrates the film.
Red tells the story of how he meets Andy and he comes to admire this mild-mannered man who first struck him as weak and unfit for prison life. Red realizes Andy has something deep inside him, that the warden and the guards can't take away ... hope. In a letter to Red, Andy writes, "Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies." Andy epitomizes why it is crucial to have dreams.
Over the years, he retains hope and eventually gains the respect of his fellow inmates, especially Red, and becomes influential within the prison. He finds ways to enrich the lives of his fellow inmates by helping them to collect books for a library. Eventually, Andrew turns out to be a most unconventional prisoner and achieves his ends on his own terms.
With a tagline of "Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free," The Shawshank Redemption illustrates faith, friendship, and survival. It is really one man's journey to freedom. Andy's body is in prison, but his soul remains free. Those who take the hope-filled journey with Andy are rewarded at the end.
Hope is a life-or-death question. When Andy raises the question of a new trial, he is thrown into the cooler for two weeks. He comments, "I guess it comes down to this: Get busy living, or get busy dying."
Paul tells the Corinthian church that we Christians have hope because of Christ's resurrection. Because of Christ we can get busy living because Christ got busy dying. Because Christ conquered death, our death leads to a greater life. Because Jesus Christ was resurrected, we, too, are resurrected. Christ gives us hope for eternal life. In hope, we can get busy living.
In the 1994 movie, The Shawshank Redemption, Tim Robbins plays Andy Dufresne, a young, hotshot banker in the 1940s. His life changes drastically when he is convicted for the murder of his wife and her secret lover and is sentenced to life imprisonment at Shawshank Prison.
With a calm, quiet demeanor, Andy seems out of place in prison. However, Andy's gentle spirit hides a great reserve of patience and fortitude, which keeps him from going insane. He is very isolated and lonely at first, but he gets to know the prison entrepreneur -- a life-timer named Red, played by Morgan Freeman who narrates the film.
Red tells the story of how he meets Andy and he comes to admire this mild-mannered man who first struck him as weak and unfit for prison life. Red realizes Andy has something deep inside him, that the warden and the guards can't take away ... hope. In a letter to Red, Andy writes, "Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies." Andy epitomizes why it is crucial to have dreams.
Over the years, he retains hope and eventually gains the respect of his fellow inmates, especially Red, and becomes influential within the prison. He finds ways to enrich the lives of his fellow inmates by helping them to collect books for a library. Eventually, Andrew turns out to be a most unconventional prisoner and achieves his ends on his own terms.
With a tagline of "Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free," The Shawshank Redemption illustrates faith, friendship, and survival. It is really one man's journey to freedom. Andy's body is in prison, but his soul remains free. Those who take the hope-filled journey with Andy are rewarded at the end.
Hope is a life-or-death question. When Andy raises the question of a new trial, he is thrown into the cooler for two weeks. He comments, "I guess it comes down to this: Get busy living, or get busy dying."
Paul tells the Corinthian church that we Christians have hope because of Christ's resurrection. Because of Christ we can get busy living because Christ got busy dying. Because Christ conquered death, our death leads to a greater life. Because Jesus Christ was resurrected, we, too, are resurrected. Christ gives us hope for eternal life. In hope, we can get busy living.
