Hopes and Fears

Life is full of hopes and fears, is it not? 

Recent vaccine developments in relation to COVID-19 have raised real hopes that we may at last be able to contain, control and perhaps ultimately conquer this virus. And yet this may be a way off yet and still there are fears for individuals and society, for health and livelihoods. Hopes and fears.

A few weeks ago one of our fears as a family was that we would not be able to gather for Christmas as usual. Indeed, we were fully prepared for that and ready to accommodate that eventuality and accept it, albeit with regret. Then the decision was taken to allow family gatherings within strict limits. Hope was re-born… until these last few days when doubts about this plan have again been raised. As I write this we await the further guidance as a result of ongoing consultations between the governments of the four nations. Again we are caught between hopes and fears. (Just for the record, while I was relieved and delighted that we could gather with two other households of our family to celebrate Christmas, I always had an uneasy feeling about that decision, and doubted that it was in fact the correct one. But I now think that it is likely too late for our governments to back off from it, and people will pay the price.) Hopes and fears.

On a considerably more trivial note, I took my car into the garage this morning for a service. As well as the regular service there are one or two things requiring some attention. Now I find myself awaiting the inevitable phone call and the possibility that the work required will be both extensive and expensive! I may be pleasantly surprised, however….! Hope and fears.

In the hymn, ‘O little town of Bethlehem’ that line appears ‘The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight’.

Someone commented that this is ‘one of the most beautiful and theologically pregnant lines in any hymn’.

I think that may be a bit of an overstatement, but I get the point and I agree that it is a rich and deep line.

As God’s people of old looked to the future, to a longed for new age and the coming of Messiah, they had hopes and fears aplenty. As we, in our turn and time, look forward to the dawning of a new age, to the new heaven and new earth promised in the Bible, there will be hopes and fears too.

This post is not really the place to explore what all of these may be nor their theological significance. I may write a book some time!

I simply want to acknowledge that hopes and fears are both part of our experience, in the trivial as well as in the more significant aspects of our lives and our living. As we look to the future hopes and fears may be inevitable and unavoidable.

But all of them are met in Jesus. He fulfils our hopes and confronts our fears.