The “Game of Thrones” fans throughout the world can now breath a sigh of relief! Jon Snow has come back to life! Brutally murdered by some of his own fellow “Watchers of the Night” at the end of last season’s epic HBO TV series, the show’s devotees have anxiously waited these past ten months, hoping beyond hope that something that could be done to bring Jon Snow back from the dead! And on Sunday’s episode they were rewarded! Jon Snow was brought back to life!

The hope of someone coming back to life is deep within all of us, isn’t it! Whether it’s a popular character on TV or a dear friend we have recently lost to cancer or some other terrible disease, we all want to believe that death is not the end, but a beginning to new life.

But what if there isn’t anything after death? What if when you die, you die…you remain dead? This was the struggle Paul found among some of his flock in Corinth. In exasperation, Paul writes: “Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the death? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been invain and your faith has been in vain.” With this question, Paul gets to the heart of our faith – resurrection. For without it, the resurrection of Jesus, the renewing and healing of all creation, and the forgiveness of sins, and the hope of life after death remain just a nice idea, and nothing else.

What do you think? What do you believe? What do you hope for in this life and the one to come? Come this weekend to worship and hear the message of hope Paul gave first to the Christians in Corinth and now to us today: “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.