24 July 2026 'Hope'

Welcome

Opening Prayer

Thank you Lord that you have brought us together again to be still, to listen for your word, to feel the presence of the Holy Spirit and to lift each other up as we share our thoughts and our hopes.

Thank you Lord for the gift of Hope, that enables us to keep going, to keep believing and keep trusting.

Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all joy,Whose trust, ever child-like, no cares can destroy,Be here now among us, and give us, we pray,Your hope in our hearts, Lord, in the morn of the day. Amen

Reflections

SO,THIS MORNING , WE ARE THINKING ABOUT HOPE. What are you hoping for today?  Think about it…everyone hopes for something.  

It may be something material, maybe emotional, maybe personal,  maybe spiritual.  Think about what you hope for. Your hopes define your very nature.  I still receive a lot of letters and messages that begin with the words: “Dear Janet, I hope you are well” and ending with “I hope we can meet up again soon.”  It’s our natural instinct is to say things like  “I hope you will soon be feeling better.”   “I HOPE things will improve for you.” I hope you will get through this difficult time and come through it even stronger”  Having hope is important to the very act of being a human being. As Dr. Judith Rich writes, “Hope is a match in a dark tunnel, a moment of light, just enough to reveal the path ahead and ultimately the way out.”

In a way, having hope links your past and present to the future. You have a vision for what you hope will happen. Whether it does or not, just visualising it can make you feel better. And if it’s something you can somewhat control – then hope can motivate you to take whatever steps you need to take towards it. Hoping for something which is within our control gives us a goal to work towards, and when we achieve it, we need another goal to keep us moving forwards.

What does the Bible say about Hope?

Jeremiah 29 v 11  For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

1Peter 1 v 3-4 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you”

AH…THE HOPE OF Heaven…

In the church we talk of the ETERNAL HOPE, This HOPE OF HEAVEN. And we not only hope, but believe, I believe with all my heart that there is a life beyond death for those who accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, in this life or the next. That there is something wonderful, something glorious, which we cannot begin to imagine  When we conduct a funeral service, we always include a “Message of Hope.” The mystery of death has the power to bring us to the threshold of faith as we hear the scripture from John’s gospel “Do not be afraid; in my Father’s house are many rooms. I go to prepare a place for you.” In the presence of death, in this extraordinary yet sacred time, when we encounter the power of grief, we can also encounter the power of hope.

In interviews with those who have been bereaved, there is an outpouring of grief, but in there somewhere, a feeling of the hope that their loved ones are at peace, in another place, another dimension.  Some call it HEAVEN.

The words of Paul in his letter to the Romans;  “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither the present nor the future, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. 

Hope is One of the greatest treasures in the Christian life. It is not really wishful thinking or a desire that things might improve, Christian hope is a confident expectation based on God's promises, his faithfulness, and the saving work of Jesus Christ

.

Hope encourages perseverance. It enables Christians to remain faithful even when prayers seem unanswered and when circumstances appear overwhelming. Hope keeps our eyes fixed on God's promises rather than our present struggles. Like an anchor that holds the ship steady during a storm, hope anchors our souls in the unchanging character of God

Hope inspires us to live with purpose. Hope transforms fear into faith and despair into expectation.

Finally, I want to share some words that my husband wrote in a testimony when he knew that his illness was terminal:   ‘Cancer has led me into a closer relationship with God.   God can use the bad things as well as the good.’

Ever since the age of 10 when my grandmother died and a year later when my father died I have been sure that there is life after death.  What form I have been uncertain of and of course we don't know.  What I do know and strongly believe is that one day, and I do not know when and we are not meant to know exactly when, I will meet Jesus and he will take me by the hand and lead me to the room that he has prepared.   What I am certain is that it will be nothing like on earth.  It will be fantastic, it will be full of love and it will be glorious.  I like to use the slightly old-fashioned term "I will go to glory".  This belief, this knowledge has helped me so much.  I am ready.”  

Romans 15:13 – “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him”

Introduction to Silence

Blessing

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope, hope for this life, and hope for the life to come, by the power of the Holy Spirit.   Amen.

Thoughts to ponder

Studying the new science of hope and Learned Hopefulness, I have committed myself to teaching and helping people find ways to access a more hopeful attitude and way of being. There’s a little burst of joy in my heart, and a deep sense of satisfaction when I find a quote that supports this mission.

Hope is fascinating because it is the only positive emotion that requires the presence of negativity or uncertainty to be activated. This makes it ferociously unique, and the new science and theories about how hope works is changing fields of study, in medicine, psychology, therapy, education, meditation, and the science of longevity. Hope is essential to understanding well-being. 

Here, in no particular order, are ten of the most inspiring quotes on hope

By Daniel Tomasulo

Quotes about Hope

·       "Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.” — Albert Einstein

·       May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears – Nelson Mandela

·       Plant seeds of happiness, hope, success and love; it will all come back to you in abundance.  This is the law of Nature _ Steve Maraboli

HENRI NOUWEN Wrote extensively about hope, and one of his central themes is that hope is different from optimism. For Nouwen, hope is not believing that circumstances will necessarily improve, it is trusting that God remains faithful regardless of circumstances

Nouwen wrote “Hope means to keep living amid desperation and to keep humming in the darkness”  He also wrote “Hope is willing to leave unanswered questions unanswered, and unknown futures unknown. Hope makes you see God's guiding hand not only in the gentle and pleasant moments but also in the shadows of disappointment and darkness.”

And “Hope is trusting that something will be fulfilled, but fulfilled according to God's promises and not just according to our wishes”

WILLIAM BARCLAY, The Scottish New Testament scholar had hope as one of his most consistent and favourite themes. Barclay consistently taught that Christian hope is not wishful thinking but confident trust in God. One of Barclays most quoted statements is “the Christian hope is the hope which has seen everything and endeared everything and still has not despaired because it believes in God. The Christian hope is not hope in the human spirit, in human goodness, in human endurance, and human achievement, the Christian hope is hope in the power of God”

Romans 5:5 "And hope does not disappoint us for the love of God has been poured out into our hearts."

Hope and despair are both the same, both born of the same longing.

Despair is the wound that never heals, hope is the gift that never leaves. Rumi

“Optimism and hope are not the same. Optimism is the belief that the world is changing for the better; hope is the belief that, together, we can make the world better. Optimism is a passive virtue, hope an active one. It needs no courage to be an optimist, but it takes a great deal of courage to hope. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks – from ‘To Heal a Fractured World’

"There is no pit so deep, that God's love is not deeper still."

"Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God."

"If you look at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within, you'll be depressed. If you look at God, you'll be at rest."

"Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength."

"Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible.

Corrie ten Boom – on Hope

How often, when we say, or think, ‘I hope’ or ‘Hopefully’ do we actually mean

‘I pray’ or ‘prayerfully’?. . .  (JG)

Blessed are you who bear the light

Hope as the Lamp in Darkness

Hope, for Rumi, is not naïve optimism—it is the soul’s quiet flame. It flickers even when all seems lost, reminding us that the night sky reveals its stars only when the sun departs. When the saboteur whispers “This will never end,” the ally replies, “This darkness is the cradle of your dawn.”

In the practice of Learned Resilience, this flame of hope fuels the courage to try again—to re-enter the loop with gentleness rather than judgment.

Even amid despair, Rumi invites us to look for “the treasure in ruin.” Hope, for him, is not resistance to pain but reverence for what it reveals — a steady flame that keeps the soul alive in the night of hardship.

To Look Up

High Hopes – reflects what HOPE can change Light-hearted song (1959) sung by Frank Sinatra

PSALM 13 – From Darkness to HOPE

Great is Thy faithfulness – hymn of hope