A thrill of hope

Scrolling through facebook the other day and a local church had posted these words as an advert for their Advent services. ' A thrill of hope'. Words taken from the song ' O Holy Night' - one of my favourite seasonal songs/carols. The next words are.....  ' A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices' and I felt drawn to that line as it came singing into my head. If ever the world was weary it is now. Is it possible to still feel a thrill of hope when we are battling a global pandemic, a climate crisis, wars and rumours of wars, terror threats and cyber crime?  And it's not just the world that is weary.  I'm weary.  I'm middle aged, overweight, soon to be empty-nested ,spiritually wandering and just a bit .....weary.   Im really looking forward to Christmas just so that I can spend more time in bed or in front of the fire doing nothing.  I need a rest.  But I suspect that what I really need is ' a thrill of hope'.





Thrill - a sudden feeling of excitement or pleasure
Hope -  "expect with confidence" and "to cherish a desire with anticipation."

It's been a while since I've felt a thrill about anything I think.  I sometimes feel it when listening to music - that rush of joy and a surging feeling of gratitude and awe at how certain notes can make me feel so moved.  The thrill is definitely an emotional response.  It goes deep down into us and pulls up from our middle an uncontrollable wave of.......... well, maybe its a spring of life.  A fountain of praise.  A tsunami of worship.    I have felt it in nature.  I have experienced it many times in worship.  Ive felt it in work when I know that I've done something really really well or my contribution has had the desired effect.    And Ive felt it when someone has done something unexpectedly wonderful for me and made me feel loved and special.    I hope you know the feeling Im talking about.

Those feelings are fleeting because they are associated with something passing and momentary.   But the thrill of hope that the hymnwriter is talking about is possibly something more permanent.   The song goes on to talk about the world recognising that the night is over and the dawn is breaking.  2000 years ago a long night drew to a close and with the birth of Jesus a new day dawned.   At that moment the earth itself experienced the biggest surge of joy and thrill of excitement and anticipation and hope.  At that moment the angels suddenly understood that God had an outrageous. audacious, horrifying plan to buy us back from the grip of Satan.  At that moment the hordes of hell started to panic as they realised that God had become incarnate and decided to dwell with man.  We have no real idea of what actually happened in spiritual realms when Jesus was delivered safely into the world.  But we know they joy was such that for the first and only time in recorded history the angels burst out of heaven singing in their millions and the weary world most definitely rejoiced.   And the thrill has echoed down through the ages.  Good news.  GOOD NEWS.  Rejoice!  Hallelujah !  There is an answer to the unending curse of sin and the reign of selfishness.  There is atonement and forgiveness and peace.   There is the possibility of eternal life in joyful and loving communion with our creator.   

As Im writing this I can feel the faint tingle of a thrill of hope.  I need to remind myself all the time that all of this is true.  I need to lift my eyes from the pages of the newspaper and get them back on the gospel.  Then I need to fall on my knees. hear the angel voices , His power and glory ever more proclaim.  



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