Hope. It is a simple four-letter word Hope is such an important part of human existence. I’m sure we’ve all read stories of people in dire life threatening or horrific situations who found a reason for living, a hope burning within them that their circumstances could not snuff out. Hope that pushed them forward when their circumstances screamed at them to stop, to give up and to let it all go. A hope that shines in the darkness, as a light at the end of the tunnel.

Hope.

We all know what it is to hope. What it is to live life looking forward to something. We’ve all been the kid in the classroom staring at the clock on the wall waiting for the bell to ring because summer holidays are just around the corner. My rugby team at school were pretty terrible, awful in act. We lost a lot. Being beaten 13-3 was a win because we got points and were beaten by 10 or less. But those days when we won. I can still feel it now. Out half shouting, five minutes left, hold them off and we will win. Throwing our bodies at them to keep them from scoring. Living in the hope that our victory was just around the corner.

Maybe you remember the early days of dating? She said yes! You are going out with her later that night. The rest of the day is spent living in that future moment, nothing can bring you down because you are going to see her that night, you live in that hope, in anticipation of that hope, you watch the clock, you get yourself ready, your future hope changes how you live in that moment. With your great big grin on your face all day long.

We also know of frustrated hopes, broken hearts, and crushed dreams. I’ve been there when the other team burst through our lines to score in the last moments. I’ve been there when they scored so much it was pouring. Heart breaks, cancelled plans, phone calls which rip the hope out from within you so that you are left breathless.

I have stood at gravesides where people have said, he had so much hope, so much promise. I have seen the world of people cave in around them as their hopes crash on the rocks of death and disease, heartbreak and pain. Maybe you have witnessed these things as well. Maybe these things have happened to you. There is nothing of this world which can replace lost hope.

Then there is when you get what you were hoping for but it wasn’t quite what you had imagined. A new job which promised so much to be so much less than you thought, a Christmas present that you dropped more than enough hints about only to tear into the gift to find a pair of socks, or simply that things have not turned out the way that you would have liked to in life.

We must be careful what to put our hopes in. As a child your hope is in everything and everywhere. And as an adult we are reluctant to put our hope in anything because we know the pain of crushed hope. A hope worth having needs to be true, there is no point in having a false hope. A hope worth having needs to deliver on what it promises. There is no point in putting your hope in a false promise. A hope worth having needs to be for something that will last.

Jesus is that hope that we all need. For three weeks starting on 25th January at 7:30pm in the Church choir room we will meet to look at this hope. Maybe you need hope, maybe you’ve lost hope, come and see why Jesus is our only hope.

Contact Richard at [email protected] if you would like to register your interest or find out more.