‘Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.’
Hebrews 10.23 (NIV-UK)
Dear friends,
I wrote this when I’d just returned from our United Reformed Church Synod Ministers’ Summer School, held at the Hayes Christian Conference Centre in Swanwick, Derbyshire. It’s always good to be with colleagues from across the Synod, and this year from West Midlands Synod as well.
The theme was Hope, and the week included five seminars led by Methodist Minister and speaker, Rev’d Dr Joanne Cox-Darling. It just so happens she is now the Minister of the Church I worshipped at while in Manchester for 3 years, so it was a nice surprise to be able to chat to her about how the church is now.
The theme pointed to how we can find God around us in the world, and so find hope, living as we do in many places in a culture of fear. Politicians and the media so often hype situations, which make many anxious. The world seems a horrible place right now, and we are constantly bombarded on social media with all the bad things happening. I know some people who’ve stopped looking at the news because it can be so depressing.
However, many times when we talk to people on the
ground in very difficult circumstances, we hear stories of hope. Somehow, tomorrow might be a better day, circumstances may change, there may be help coming from an unexpected source. Many put their hope in God to sustain them, to give them strength and to help them through the most difficult days.
In many places in the world there are projects which give hope in practical ways. I saw that first hand last year in both Kenya and parts of South Africa. In areas where people are squashed together in tin huts in informal settlements, projects include to feed and educate children, to help provide employment and skills, to house orphans, and to give children something to aim for through football or dance.
In our own country, poverty looks different, but it is still there. There are many families and the elderly who live in fuel poverty or with financial burdens they can’t meet. Others face domestic violence or disabilities that make life more difficult, or mental health issues. So many are anxious about so many things in this life. Perhaps you are one of them. How do we have hope in God in any of those circumstances?
God isn’t there to wave a magic wand and make our problems disappear. But God did come to our world and lived in all the messiness and difficulties of life. And God will walk with us in all the difficulties we face. God will sustain us, will give us strength and help us through each day. That hope is there for the asking, it’s God’s gift to us and a promise to be with us. I encourage you to take up that hope.
May God be with you and yours, Clare <><