When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them
Luke 2: 17-20
Today’s verse shows us about some of the many ways hope is expressed. First we see the shepherds who have come to meet Jesus. They have come after trusting in God, leaving their fields and obeying what the angels have told them to do. When they meet Jesus they are filled with so much hope that they tell anyone and everyone about the good news and later, when they return, they praise and glorify God for all that he had shown them. These actions are actions of joy. This new hope that God had given to the shepherds had such an impact that they started to express an outward joy. This joy then impacted all those around them. People were ‘amazed at what the shepherds had told them’(vs 20).
However, we also see how hope isn’t always expressed outwardly. Mary displays her hope inwardly. She ‘treasured all these words’(vs 19), and doesn’t let them pass her by, she holds these memories close to her heart and is hopeful about God’s plan for her son. In a word, Mary’s hope seems to be expressed as peace. She has an inward peace in her heart from the knowledge that God has a plan for her and her family. It would have been the least likely situation to have peace, having had a stressful time finding a place to stay and then giving birth to a child in a stable so far away from what she knew as home. And yet the hope that God gives also brings her peace.
Over the past year, the interaction between hope, joy and peace have been particularly on my mind. This time last year I was living in Kosovo for six months as a part of a gap year. I was there in a team of four, all of us volunteering at an educational centre, running the nursery and teaching English to the older children and young people.
Before we left the UK, as a part of our training, we picked a team verse. We chose Romans 15:13:
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him,
so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
At the start of each day before the children arrived we would pray together as a team for the children, for our work and anything that was worrying us or particularly on our hearts. As we did this we trusted that God would guide us throughout the day in all of our actions and words as we taught the children and young people, and we found that we became more able to exercise his joy and peace in our day. By the end of the six months we realised that just by trusting God and trying to live in joy and peace, we had an impact on the lives of our friends there and they began to ask us where our hope came from.
You see, when we trust in God, the ‘God of Hope’, we become motivated to live in his joy and peace, and when we do so, we have an impact on the world around us. We become ambassadors of hope through the good news of Jesus who was the ultimate ambassador of hope in our world. And, the amazing thing is, is that anyone can be an ambassador of hope, from whatever background or situation. God chose the shepherds who were considered to be some of the lowest of society to be the ones to share the hope of Jesus!
Daily Share
The ‘daily share’ is a hint each day for how you could share some hope in your life, today.
Hope inspires us to live with joy and peace, which can both look like the outwardly overflowing praise and good news spreading of the shepherds or the reflective and heart-warming memory keeping of Mary. However, what we can learn is that it starts with trusting God with each and every little thing in our days. Is there anything that you need to entrust to God as you start your day? Ask God to fill you with joy and peace and at the end of the day look back to see how you shared hope to those around you.
Katie Darling
Katie is the youth intern at TRINITY this year before she starts university at Swansea in 2021. As a part of the internship Katie often sings in the worship band, helps at the cafe and is one of the leaders at the weekly youth events. In her spare time, Katie loves to go on dog walks, draw, read books, travel to different countries and have a good cup of tea!
Suzanne is a semi-abstract, contemporary landscape painter and a teacher. She is inspired by the land, sea and big skies. She paints in oils and mixed-media from memory and experience, and her work is developed using artistic intuition. She says ‘my greatest loves are atmospheric weather and fleeting light and this I try to capture in my work, through my own emotional response.
Sarah is an award-winning Illustrator, author and painter. With an illustration career spanning 18 years, Sarah has illustrated for many clients including Kew Gardens, IKEA and The Guardian. Her staple work comes from illustrating funny children’s books. Her latest book CHARLIE CHANGES INTO A CHICKEN is the best selling debut middle grade book of 2019.
Martina is an artist and theology student with a background in professional photography and this is her second time exhibiting at TRINITY. Her photographic work this year considers how experiencing the world through digital media has changed our perception of it, while her community sculpture project invites to look inward and explore themes of holiness and wholeness.
John Norris is an aspiring part time metal sculptor from Hurstpierpoint. He bought a welder in December 2018 and started tinkering in his spare time. He dreams of one day being able to make a full time career out of metal sculpting. The pieces on display at the Lewes Art Wave festival are still some of his very first creations!
Suzanne Hennegrave is a semi-abstract, contemporary landscape painter and a teacher. She is inspired by the land, sea and big skies. She paints in oils and mixed-media from memory and experience and her work is developed using artistic intuition.
Although I have been sculpting in clay for many years, it was as a mature student that I went to study ceramics at Falmouth College of Art. Returning to Sussex I set up my own studio producing figurative stoneware sculpture. Singers, dancers, performers, some written over with sonnets or songs, my work reflects my love of literature and my early career in the theatre. I constantly go back to basics, which for me is an endless exploration of the human form.
The theme of Communication for this exhibition is a broad one. Visibly, verbally and tangibly, art is the great communicator, giving us fresh insight into the human condition. I like the image in the bible of the body being the temple of the soul. I hope these quiet abstract nudes have a meditative quality - meditation being perhaps one of the purest forms of communication.
The other two figures were inspired by events in the life of Jesus Christ 2000 years ago, but they are very modern tragedies. A Syrian refugee, her child in her arms and her possessions on her back, flees her country. A mother cradles her son after violence on a Hackney street. Only you, the viewer can say what, if anything they communicate, but if you have paused to look and wonder for a moment why these things happen, then thank you.
Martina was struck by the stories of pain, suffering and incredible strength and integrity she discovered just among friends and family. All hidden behind the socially acceptable facade of: ‘I’m fine’.
For this series she has photographed women with a hidden illness or trauma. The women choose a flower, branch or other foliage to represent the fact that there is more to discover than can be seen on the outside. The choice of foliage or its positioning may reveal something about their illness or struggle and how it affects their relationships and identity.
Jo Marks is a British figurative artist. Using graphic lines, her chalk and charcoal drawings are developed from a fascination with the human form.
Her unedited marks reflect the energy and urgency with which the subject was observed. Whether these marks are intuitively abstract or more true to life, they always express an authentic understanding of form.
While Jo tries to reflect this sense of dichotomy in her carefully balanced compositions, she also aims to ensure her work brings a sense of peace. “Knowing when to stop is a huge challenge, I never want to over-bake my pieces but instead reflect the joy with which they were made.”
