Hope That Changes Lives

Message for Easter, or other times of year. Jesus Christ, his birth, death and resurrection. Does it really mean anything for today with all the senseless killings and crimes that are happening?

Cast: 3 (male or female, any age)

Time: 8 minutes

Sample Script

(Tracy is seated, reading the newspaper. Chris is watching TV. Bobbie stands nearby.)

TRACY
(Gasps) Oh, how awful!

BOBBIE
What is it?

TRACY
Four Mounties in Canada were ambushed—shot down in cold blood! All under thirty years old. One had just been on the job for three weeks, another was about to be married, and one leaves behind a wife expecting their second child in a couple of months.

BOBBIE
I can’t understand why anyone would ever want to be a police officer—it’s just too dangerous!

CHRIS
(Shakes head, reacting to TV) You won’t believe this!

BOBBIE
What now?

CHRIS
A judge in an Atlanta courtroom was shot and killed.

BOBBIE
What is happening here? Seems like this kind of thing is happening all over the world! Suicide bombings of police personnel in the Middle East… Policemen, judges—people responsible for our freedom—gunned down in senseless killings. And what for? For what cause?

TRACY
Well, in the case of the Canadian policemen, it seems like the killer was just full of hatred—he was out to kill policemen. No cause, no reason, only hatred.

CHRIS
And the man who killed the judge in Atlanta had apparently tried to sneak knives into the courtroom—so he was planning something all along.

BOBBIE
The policemen, the judge… they were murdered for what they believed in. They will be remembered forever for making a difference. They are the hope that changes lives.

TRACY
Forever? The fact is, they will be remembered for a time, and they will have their names written in history. But… forever remembered? Likely not.

CHRIS
How can we, as members of society, ignore the fact that someone has died to protect our rights and freedoms—the right to safety, the right to live without fear of bullies and gangsters?

BOBBIE
How can we live in the reality that someone has died so that we may be free, and yet not be forever moved to remember that person?

TRACY
Our heroes tend to be a short-term memory.

CHRIS
Yet the world will never be the same because they lived—because of their sacrifice.

TRACY
(Pauses) Few people even recall the greatest sacrifice ever made.

BOBBIE
That would be…?

TRACY
Jesus Christ.

CHRIS
(Hesitant) That was different, He was…

TRACY
God? Yes, He was. But He came to earth fully human, suffered, and was put to death—not for His own benefit, but for ours.

CHRIS
Like I said, that was different. And we do recognize what Jesus did.

TRACY
I’m thinking of society as a whole—not just the small number of people who show up at church on Easter. Does what Jesus did—His birth and death—really make a difference? Did it… does it change lives?

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