Wow, what a few weeks we have just had. June started with a superb Jubilee celebration. We had the lovely warm weather, the growing excitement as we watch the Olympic torch relay. And let us not forget the fantastic England victory over Germany in the final of Euro 2012. We live in hope but I’m not sure which one I am most confident in?

The plan was not to make you laugh, either incredulously or in genuine mirth, but to make you think about the things we hope for. We may well have certain day-to-day, dare I say normal things, we wish for and I think they may just fill most of our thoughts when it comes to hopes. Whatever you do, don’t hope that your teenagers are happy because if you thought of what really makes them happy you would shudder.

But what about bigger hopes?

My vain hope that England will win the Euro 2012 against Germany (on penalties of course) could be just that, a vain hope. The hope that we would have a great summer, or an incredible Olympics, may be fanciful but they are hopes nonetheless and without them we might just go mad. Hopes always, and I am definite on this, always shape how we live.

If we have none we are cold, unmoved and boring. With them we look to the future, that unknown mystery that can scare and excite in equal measure. When faced with a future that has no hope we are inclined to shut up shop and think only of ourselves, but with hope there is always a chance we might just like the present and that changes everything.

The Bible is full of references to what happens when we have no hope. We are lifeless… unmoving basically. We go nowhere and fast. But with hope the possibilities seem endless. That is a life I prefer to live… which will you choose
Love Jason, The Man in the Manse