Day Thirty Three - A Forlorn Hope

One of my favourite authors is Bernard Cornwall and I particularly like the Sharpe series that deal with the Napoleonic Wars, but to be honest, I have probably seen more of the films than read the books!

When the army were laying siege to a fort, they would pound the walls with cannon balls until a breach (hole) was made and then a group of soldiers would be tasked with attacking that breach. These men were known as the forlorn hope – a band of volunteers, usually junior officers and men who were up on a charge that meant they would be put in front of a firing squad. Anyone who survived the attack would either be promoted or reprieved. The reason it was called the forlorn hope is because very few people survived this experience!

Yesterday, England came out of total lockdown into tiers, and the hope for many people was that their tier would be one of the less restricted tiers, but for many it was a forlorn hope. People are scared to plan for the future, I hear so many people say “Christmas will have to be put on hold this year” but actually Christmas is the time that Hope came into the World and it is essential we celebrate this reality!

We may not be able to do it in the way we have always done it, but maybe that’s not such a bad thing. Perhaps it will make people think a bit more!

I live in a village and am organising an outdoor Carol Event on the village green. It is interesting to see how many people are saying it will be good to do something together in the open (Covid rules will be adhered to!). For some people it will be their way of surviving this lockdown experience, they are ready to do almost anything and singing carols would not have been their usual Christmas experience.

I hope that each one of us will take this opportunity to show that putting our trust in Jesus is not a forlorn hope, but an absolute certainty!

Father God, thank you for sending Jesus into the world as our one and only hope and that when we trust in you, we can be sure we will be blessed. Amen

Vince Carrington