In the 1880s, Daeida Wilcox and her husband bought 160 acres of land with the aim of creating a town. But this wouldn’t be any old town. Daeida’s dream was that “Hollywood” would be nothing less than a Christian utopia—free of alcohol and guns, a place of peace.
Like all earthly utopias, the dream didn’t last long. When a filmmaker named D. W. Griffith made a movie there in 1910, the seed for the biggest movie production center in history had been sown. Despite Daeida’s wishes, saloons began opening, and the booming 1920s brought both success and excess to Hollywood.
Christian-utopia Hollywood is long gone, but that doesn’t stop modern Hollywood from presenting its own version of the utopian dream—the happy ending. Luke destroys the Death Star and saves the galaxy. Nemo is found! We all know that real life isn’t so neat, but we lap up the happy ending because it’s what each of us longs for—a world where pain is gone, relationships work, justice is realized, and life is good.
As Daeida Wilcox found, a utopian society is hard to create. Sin, suffering, and corruption interfere with every effort to establish it (Romans 8:20-23). But as modern Hollywood shows, that doesn’t stop our hunger for new creation. We wait for the world to be liberated from its decay and corruption (Romans 8:21), and one day it will be (Romans 8:19,24-25). The fullness of the new creation will come at God’s command, but we are called to bring God’s new creational ways to the world today (2 Corinthians 5:17; Revelation 21:10).
Today, by the Spirit’s work, may we see more happy endings realized in the lives of those around us. We live new creational lives pointing to the fullness of new creation yet to come!
NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Luke 11:14-32
More:
Read Matthew 6:10 and consider what Jesus was saying about God’s kingdom and new creational work being realized in our lives today.
Next:
How do you see society longing for heaven? How will you participate in God’s new creational work today?
Gary Shultz on August 3, 2015 at 6:35 am
I am extremely thankful we do have something to look forward to, hope. Society may be looking for heaven or possibly utopia. I think heaven comes into focus when one realizes with all of the effort man still can’t deliver, and he was never able to deliver. When we finally realize we were designed to live from the inside out and we desperately need God on the inside, then we are getting somewhere. So for me to participate in His new work I need to allow the new on the inside to guide the day on the outside. Thanks
Mike Wittmer on August 3, 2015 at 9:52 pm
That is very interesting about the origins of Hollywood. I would never have guessed. More importantly, may God give us opportunities to use people’s hunger for the new creation to tell them the only way to get there.
Ruth O'reilly-smith on August 6, 2015 at 5:13 am
A fascinating start to Hollywood, thanks for sharing Sheridan. And, it’s interesting to note the Bible-based films that have recently come from Hollywood – we can still pray that Hollywood become a beacon of hope for a truly ‘happy ending’ in Christ alone.