Hope is Contagious
Parish magazine article February 2025
After months of exhausting negotiations, the leadership of Hamas and the government of Israel have agreed to a ceasefire to bring to an end fifteen months of the war in Gaza. The war is not over, but this is a massive step in the right direction, and I pray that the leaders involved will have the wisdom to keep following a path that will lead to lasting peace for the region. When the news is so often about war, conflict and tragedy, it is good to have a story of hope as we begin 2025.
There is still much negative news and many reasons to be apprehensive about the state of our world, but there are always reasons to have hope, too.
What helps you to have hope in the year ahead?
Sometimes it’s easy to hope and feel optimistic about the future, and sometimes it isn’t. One of the privileges of my role is to walk alongside many people in our communities who face challenges due to bereavement, a difficult diagnosis, physical or mental health issues, relationship difficulties, employment and financial problems, etc. For the people involved, these challenges can sometimes seem never-ending and overwhelming.
I think we’ve all had times like that, times when it feels like we can’t cope and things will never go back to normal (whatever ‘normal’ means). The year ahead holds opportunities and challenges for everyone, but how can we regain our hope if we feel overwhelmed by our challenges?
When we feel overwhelmed, many classic stressbusters can help us calm down and return to a more hopeful mindset. These strategies include slow/deep breathing, exercise, connecting with nature, and talking with friends.
A couple of other things that I’ve found helpful...
1. Practicing gratitude. There are many ways to do this, but one great exercise that can help is to think of a partner or close friend who cares for you and write down ten reasons why you are grateful they are in your life. Then, go and tell them – don’t just send it to them; tell them face to face or over the phone. This is a powerful thing to do, even if you are in a good place!
2. Pray. I don’t mean giving a list of requests to God, but prayerfully giving him our worries and burdens. As Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Breathing Space is a short reflective service where we practice this sort of contemplative prayer and let go of our burdens (details overleaf).
These things don’t take away the challenges, but they can help us get out of survival mode (fight, flight, or freeze) and rediscover a space where we feel more positive and find reasons to have hope in the future.
And hope is contagious; as we find more reasons to be hopeful, we help the people around us be more hopeful, too.
Rev Barry Jackson