Parish of Llandudno North Wales, Rector's letter

January 2010

I can hardly believe that we are entering 2010. Is it really ten years since we celebrated the new millennium and the beginning of the 21st century with such hope and excitement?

What can we say about these first ten years of the new century and millennium? Have they lived up to our hopes? Sadly they have not! The ‘noughties’ have witnessed the horrors of 9/11 in New York and our own 7/7 bombings in London. They have seen wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the brutal suppression of the uprising in Burma, natural disasters such as the Tsunami and the Chinese earthquake, and as they drew to a close, the credit crunch and world-wide recession. These are only some of the horrors we could mention! Of course there are also many positive things we could say about the last ten years but they do seem to be overshadowed by the bad ones.

And so entering into a new year and a new decade we could easily become cynical and lose all hope for the future of our world. Society seems to be full of selfishness (exemplified by the bankers’ bonuses scandal), corruption (highlighted by the MP’s expenses row), and violence of many kinds, we can’t seem to agree on how to meet the challenges posed by climate change etc. etc.

But wait a moment! Despite all the problems you don’t have to look far to discover people who are good and kind and who give their time and energy to caring for others in all sorts of ways; there are plenty of examples of public servants and politicians who serve with integrity; there are many acts of heroism and bravery in the world; and yes, even some of the seemingly intractable problems do get solved, or at least made much better (think of the progress in Northern Ireland).

Furthermore as followers of Christ we are called to see the world from a divine perspective. We know that despite appearances, this is God’s world. The Old Testament prophets teach us that He uses human history and human affairs with all their confusion and turbulence to bring about his purposes. He sometimes even uses evil people and bad situations to bring about the good he has in store. In difficult times we have to wait in the darkness in the belief that God is in ultimate control; we have to have Hope.

‘Hope’ is one of the great Christian virtues and gifts of the Spirit. By ‘hope’ we don’t mean an attitude of ‘hoping for the best’ or ‘looking on the bright side’. The Christian virtue of Hope is much deeper than that. It’s actually about trusting in God’s promises that ultimately ‘all will be well’, that His purposes will be fulfilled often despite appearances. ‘Hope’ sees that things will not necessarily be easy or comfortable on a human level and that much must be endured, but that in and through all this God will prevail.

So as we enter 2010 and the second decade of the 21st century we can do so with Hope and Trust in God, despite everything, knowing that whatever our world has to experience in the year ahead, and whatever will come to us on a personal level we can, to quote a famous new year reading ‘put our hand into the Hand of God.’ I end with a suitable New Year Collect:

O God, by whose command the order of time runs its course: forgive our impatience, perfect our faith and, while we wait for the fulfilment of your promises, grant us to have a good hope because of your word; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Fr John

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