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Viewpoint from Rev Liz Dawes 03/01/2025
 Rev Liz Dawes
Curate, Great Yarmouth Team Ministry
My new year’s resolution for 2025, along with the usual ‘do more exercise, eat less chocolate, and achieve five incredible things before breakfast’ is to have more hope
Hope is something which has been in short supply of late, when we look at the violence and destruction and discord of recent months, but I am determined to live a more hopeful life. After all, hope is at the heart of the Christian message of good news. We have hope because Jesus was sent by God into the world, lived among us, died on a cross for us but rose again from the tomb.
 “All my hope on God is founded” begins one of my favourite hymns. We persevere, against the odds sometimes, because we have hope. During the Christmas season which, in the church, lasts from Christmas day until Candlemas at the beginning of February, we have a series of Bible readings which come around each year and one of them is the story of the wedding at Cana, where Jesus famously turns water into wine. It’s always cheering to me that his first miracle takes place at a big family celebration. It’s the first sign that Jesus has some extraordinary powers and has come with a particular mission
Everyone has their own views on miracles, and it’s reasonable to be sceptical about them, but often in life there are things which happen, which we can’t quite explain but seem more than coincidence. They seem to have happened for a reason. Some people call them ‘god-incidences’
I often think of them as small miracles which are quietly going on in the background. They are not earth-shattering like walking on water, or turning water into wine, but it feels as though God is at work. When we start to focus on the small miracles in our lives it turns our perspective around, and we start to concentrate on the positives rather than the negatives. Suddenly life seems a little more hopeful
The Old Testament is filled with messages of hope from the prophets as well as warnings. Jeremiah tells those living in exile that God has plans for them, to give them hope and a future. Isaiah says that those who hope in God will soar like eagles; they will run and not grow weary. Hope is the fuel which will drive us into a new year with optimism and joy
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