St Mary’s Church

A line in the Christmas carol O Little Town of Bethlehem speaks of ‘the hopes and fears of all the years’. As Christmas approaches many of us are filled with hope – it is a time traditionally when people come together, when charities launch their appeals and when people enjoy celebrations. However it is also a time of fear - for frail relatives, those in damaging relationships and those struggling with debt. Hopes and fears are not just associated with Christmas but are part of our daily existence. Our ultimate hopes and fears concern issues of life, death, good and evil.

What is the basis is there for having any hope? Where do we go with our anxieties and fears? If there is no God then, although there are temporary ways of finding relief, there is ultimately no answer. However the Christmas carol O Little Town of Bethlehem goes on to make the extraordinary claim found in the Bible that our hopes and fears are met in Jesus Christ who was born 2000 years ago. God came down to earth, lived, died and rose again so that we can have certain hope that evil and death will not have the last word and so that we need have no ultimate fears. If that is true, it changes everything. Why not come to one of our Christmas services at St Mary’s to look into it further?