Your answers
"Hope of resurrection"? I thought it was a
certainty?
A well-known prayer gives thanks that we have "a true faith and
a sure hope". Hope of resurrection never conflicts with or
undermines its certainty in the realm of faith, because faith and
hope are interrelated.
Christian hope, as opposed to a this-worldly optimism, is based
neither on wishful thinking nor on clever speculation, but firmly
on the resurrection of Christ. St Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15,
expounds this at length, and specifically defines hope in relation
to the tremendous fact that Christ has been raised from the dead,
the first fruits of those who have died (1 Corithians
15.19-20).Similarly, St Peter rejoiced that Christians were given
new birth into a living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus
Christ (1 Peter 1.3).
This resurrection faith, consistently proclaimed in the New
Testament, both informs and inspires the hope that looks forward
"to the grace that Jesus Christ will bring when he is revealed" (1
Peter 1.13). With faith in the indwelling presence of the risen
Christ in the power of the Spirit - "Christ in you, the hope of
glory" - believers have a pledged "guarantee" (Greek:
arrabon) or an advanced foretaste of what God has
prepared, in that "what is mortal may be swallowed up by life" (2
Corinthians 5.4-5).
Hope of resurrection ultimately depends on faith in the promises
of God. It has been said that, for a Christian, hope is never a
trembling, hesitant hope that perhaps the promises of God may be
true: it is, on the contrary, always a confident expectation that
they cannot be anything else than true. As a statement of faith,
that underscores the certainty of the hope of resurrection.
(Canon) Terry Palmer, Magor
Monmouthshire
Your questions
Gun carriages are designed for the deployment of heavy
artillery and other weapons of mass destruction. Is it as
incongruous as it would seem for such vehicles to convey deceased
members of the royal family and other notabilities to their
funerals in cathedrals and other churches?
J. M.
Address for answers and more questions: Out of the Question,
Church Times, 3rd floor, Invicta House, 108-114 Golden
Lane, London EC1Y 0TG. questions@churchtimes.co.uk