麻豆社

Good Morning,

On picking up the last newspapers of the year from the cornershop, I asked the owner, Neetham, if he had any hopes for 2024. He shook his head, a little embarrassed at the question, as though hope was a luxury he could not afford. And then he said, 鈥業 just hope it鈥檚 better than last year.鈥�

That won鈥檛 be difficult, I thought as I hauled the papers back home. The annual reviews of the year confirmed it: apart from for Big Oil, arms manufacturers and Taylor Swift, 2023 was not a great year. And, as if to compound matters, predictions for this new year look bleak.

To summarise: The end of the world is well-nigh. Things are going to get worse. Warmer. Poorer. More divided. The general tenor is 鈥榖e afraid, be very afraid.鈥� Where once a new year would see us recklessly braving resolutions, a collective neoanaphobia has descended.

But are we living in the end of days? Are these the worst of times? Or are these the projections - even the ambitions - of senescent men? I鈥檓 old enough to see that things are bad, but I鈥檓 also ugly enough to remember worse. I also know that fear sells. Sells papers, votes and products.

It feels as if the pedlars of fear have been buying all the airtime and ad space for too long. Encouraging people who already feel threatened to see threats everywhere. It鈥檚 dangerous. For stimulating fear in people and then making it sound like wisdom, faith or patriotism makes fear a resolution.

Seeking a better story, I find real gold buried deep in the paper. In the new year鈥檚 honours list is the story of Rizwan Javed, a station assistant awarded an MBE for preventing 29 people from taking their own lives. A story in which someone鈥檚 hope literally saves others.

Rather than being a luxury we can鈥檛 afford, hope is an essential, even necessary, part of being human. We are these extraordinary creatures able to make leaps of imagination and faith. Daring to imagine a better year ahead and then daring to play our part in bringing it about.

Let鈥檚 not write off this future before it has arrived. Scripture says God promises us a future. 鈥淔or I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.鈥� It鈥檚 freely given. We just have to say yes to it.

Tomorrow, with last year鈥檚 newspapers already in the recycling, I鈥檒l be heading down to Neetham鈥檚 to get another paper, and to tell him that he鈥檚 right to hope for a better year, despite the evidence. Hope鈥檚 not a luxury. It鈥檚 a precious and unexpected gift that we will endeavour to share together this coming year.

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