For many years now, I have started each year with a poem that was read by King George VI as he prepared to lead Great Britain into 1940 as the Second World War was breaking out:
“And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’
And he replied:
‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.'”
I love that poem because it captures the two things we all carry into a new year. On the one hand it recognises the uncertainty of a new year and some trepidation that comes from recent difficulty. Just as 1940 had already seen the outbreak of war, our current era is marked by strife around the world and some fatigue from the post-COVID season. As one person said to me recently, “I just don’t watch the news anymore. I’m tired of bad news.”
On the other hand, we all want some hope going into a new year. Realistically, 2025 won’t be any more certain or settled than 2024 yet, I enter this new year hopeful because I also see a community around me who are generous and engaged. I see young people who are full of potential and creativity. And I see community groups, like local churches, doing extraordinary things to invest into our community. There is enormous reason to be hopeful!
This all comes back to community. We need community. As the African proverb says, “It takes a village to raise a child.” But a village does even more than that. So it’s no surprise that community is at the very heart of God’s design for people, when he said, “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). In fact, God Himself is represented as being Himself in the community of the Trinity. In other words, community isn’t just a novel idea – it is at the heart of humanity and creation itself.
As we press into the new year, make community a goal – perhaps explore the community offered in churches. My prayer for you and your family is that whatever 2025 brings, you may know the God who loves you and a community of grace so that in the midst of uncertainty, you will have true hope. “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
