22 December

Dear Friends,

With all the new restrictions putting an end to so much of our Christmas plans - our son Robert and his family will not be joining us from Scotland while Lindsey and her family will remain in Brussels - I imagine such disruption and disappointment will be the same for many people and families throughout the Netherlands. 

And while I had been looking forward to a packed church with the choir in full voice as we celebrated the birth of Jesus, everything has moved online. 

Paradoxically, at a time when hope is at a premium, and so much uncertainty burdens and threatens to overwhelm, the message of the Christmas gospel could not be more appropriate.

It is a message of hope, hope found lying in a manger, hope as vulnerable and fragile as it is life changing. 

And so although our Christmas celebrations will be very different from what we had all planned, hope remains, hope in the enduring love and concern of God that drew its first breath in Bethlehem's stable.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may be rich in hope (Romans 15: 13) 

A message of Advent is that if we put our trust and our faith in our God,

Our fear can be reborn as hope;

And, hope in all its fullness is found, as the Shepherds discovered,

lying a manger… In the Christ child, Jesus…

As followers of Jesus, and followers of His Way, we can be rich in Hope.

Russell