Baby’s fight shows us need for hope in world
Amazing, astounding and miraculous! Those words came to me when I heard the heart-rending story of a baby born near Christmas.
Vanellope Hope Wilkins was born with her heart outside her body. Parents Naomi and Dean are filled with hope after Vanellope survived three major heart operations overseen by chief cardiologist Frances Bu’Lock.
This, in a news programme that was filled with so much sad news, including the loss of four young lives in a callous fire attack on their home. And previously the story of Antarctica’s Mount Jackson being bettered by Mount Hope after new satellite measurements made by British scientists proved Hope the highest in the Southern Ocean Archipelago.
We can say truthfully with both these stories of Vanellope and frozen precipices what we see again everywhere in homes, hospitals and hills of every horizon - that Hope rises.
It is wonderful to share at Christmas time that there is still reason for hope to be raised and recognised throughout the world.
The greatest hope came that first Christmas when Jesus Christ the Son of God was sent from heaven. The world was as cold and dark but with the arrival of Jesus there was and is hope for all mankind. The story of this amazing, astounding and miraculous birth of the Saviour Jesus, causes hope to rise, saving people from their sins. There is reason for each of us, like the parents of Vanellope, to know, despite the difficulties, of rising hope and resounding joy in the world.
Hope rises purely because Christ has risen victorious and glorious bringing Hope to immeasurable heights. In the Holy Bible we read in the New Testament Hebrews ch10 v23‘ Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful’.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in 2018.
Services Saturday, December 23: Carol singing at the Co-op 10.20-11am.
Christmas Eve: Morning service 10.30am; Candlelight service 6pm ChristmasDay: 10 - 10.45am Sunday, December 31: Morning service with Communion 10.30am