Real hope for the future
I am writing this as we approach the middle of January and realised today that I am still exchanging “Happy New Year” greetings with those I’m meeting for the first time in 2026.
I wonder what we really meant when we wished each other a Happy New Year? Without wishing to dampen people’s spirits or dwell on the hardships endured by so very many across our troubled world, I find the word ‘happy’ doesn’t always convey what I wish to say. There’s a risk that it’s unrealistically optimistic, or even a little insensitive when we know there can be all sorts of difficulties and sadnesses in the lives of those around us.
So I’ve been wondering whether, rather than unrealistic or naive optimism or a glib phrase that slides easily off the tongue, I could find the words that encompassed a deep desire for health and wholeness, for peace and reconciliation, for restoration and re-creation – words that expressed real hope for the future, and trust that we are known and loved and held by the God who longs to bring us life in all its fullness.
We rang at midnight in our local tower to welcome in the New Year, and I learned the following day that someone in a house opposite the church had been holding her phone at the open window to enable a bereaved and deeply distressed friend to hear the bells. Something in the sound of the bells filled this troubled soul with an inexplicable feeling that despite all her grief and despair, there was still hope and love in the world, and that the bells were ringing this message out loud and clear.
We might never know who is listening when we ring, or what is happening in their lives, but let’s allow the voice of the bells to express our greetings, our hope for the world and our faith and trust in the God of steadfast love who travels with us into 2026, and who will never leave us or forsake us.
Nicky Seabright