Anticipation is growing because we are only days away from the start of that major quadrennial event… the FIFA World Cup. Apologies to those people who resent that their TV schedules are being hijacked by 22 people kicking a ball around in a park! However, I confess to an internal struggle as to whether it will be okay to watch some matches that begin at 3am… and still go to work later in the morning. 

One of the things that I get excited about is the wall chart. I love a world Cup wall chart, filling in all the results as the tournament progresses, hoping against hope that ‘forty years of hurt’ may finally come to end…apologies again for all non-England fans but being born in 1964 and not being old enough to remember the 1966 World Cup… hope is all I have.

Hope is a short word with a big meaning. It brings meaning and purpose to our lives. It is something that provides us with a sense of peace that in the end things will come good.

That may all sound a little ‘pie in the sky’ for some people. But hope is a key aspect of belief. As a Christian, my hope is founded in Jesus Christ and the promises he made to the world. The promise of his ultimate return to live in eternity with the coming of God’s Kingdom. In the meantime, we choose to live in the world following Jesus teaching of love, sacrifice, justice and mercy.  

There is a fantastic verse in the Bible that was written thousands of years ago, and yet is certainly relevant in 2026… it was God’s words spoken though a prophet called Micah…it say this:

The Lord has told us what is good. What he requires of us is this: to do what is just, to show constant love, and to live in humble fellowship with our God.

What a difference this would make in our world today if people embraced such a way of living.

Hope is found in and through Jesus Christ.

Although I’m still not sure if that is enough for England to win the world cup !!!!

AMEN