Contending for Hope at the Start of a New Year
There is something honest about the start of a new year. The noise quietens a little. The expectations linger. And many of us arrive into January carrying both gratitude and weariness all at once.
This past Sunday, as we gathered for the first time in the year ahead, we also stood at the beginning of a significant season in the life of St Paul’s & St Barnabas. One hundred and seventy-five years of worship and witness on this site. Generations of prayer. Lives shaped, changed, restored. A faithful God, present through it all.
And so it felt right not to rush forward with slogans or strategies, but to begin by listening again to Scripture. To be reminded of who we are before we ask what comes next.
Peter’s opening words in his first letter are written to people under pressure. Ordinary believers living in a world that feels unsettled, unfamiliar, and at times hostile. They are scattered. They are tired. They are tempted to lose heart.
And Peter does not begin by telling them to try harder. He reminds them of their identity.
They are strangers in the world, yet chosen by God.
Set apart by the Spirit.
Sprinkled with the blood of Jesus.
Held by grace. Sustained by peace.
In other words, they are not forgotten. They are not misplaced. They are exactly where God intends them to be, even as they long for something more.
That word “strangers” matters. It tells us that discomfort is not always failure. That longing can be holy. That the ache we feel for justice, peace, and restoration is often a sign that we were made for another world, even as we are sent to serve this one.
And that is where hope takes shape. Not as wishful thinking. Not as nostalgia for the past. But as confidence rooted in what God has already done in Christ.
As we step into a new year, and into this anniversary season, the call is not to manage decline or retreat quietly. It is to contend for hope. To live faithfully where God has placed us. To love this city. To bear witness to Jesus in word and deed. To trust that the same God who has been faithful here for 175 years is faithful still.
This first sermon sets the tone for the journey ahead. It grounds us again in salvation, identity, and calling. It lifts our eyes from what feels fragile to the God who is steadfast.
Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
You can listen to the sermon below, and you would be very welcome to join us in person on Sunday as we continue to worship, pray, and contend for hope together.
 | Strangers, Chosen & Sent into a Stranger World (1 Peter 1:1–2)){kind=link}
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