8th February 2026
Hope, Meaning and Purpose
Most of the conversations I've had in the last few weeks - especially in schools, where wet play has been the rule rather than the exception - have included remarks about the terrible weather. It's been a grim, wet late January, and a soggy start to February. Most days, I've had to change my socks after my morning walk around the parish. Meanwhile, the news, national and international is miserable, people are struggling with health and finances as a long winter continues... it's a grey time of year for many of us.
And yet, through the grey skies and the incessant rain, there are signs of hope. I'm closing my curtains later in the evening and, when I look out of my kitchen window, I can see green shoots where the daffodils I planted in the autumn are beginning to sprout. At West Malling yesterday, in a rare moment of better weather, I sat with colleagues on a bench in warm sunshine, looking out at a carpet of snowdrops and crocuses.
Part of my day at West Malling involved a presentation about what is being called the Quiet Revival, and the findings of some research called Finding Jesus. These recent surveys have shown that, spiritually, there seems to be a sign that spring is coming, that green shoots are rising from the earth, that hearts and minds are being awakened to the good news of the gospel in small (hence "quiet") but significant ways. The Finding Jesus survey asked a large sample of new Christians what had attracted them to faith: by far the most popular answers were that the gospel had given their lives new hope, meaning and purpose, closely followed by their sense of being forgiven and set free from shame from the past. It's an encouraging reminder that, in troubled times, people are still seeking hope, meaning and purpose, and that the gospel of Jesus Christ still has the power to transform lives.
The research also speaks of a challenge to us as church. For, although there are clear signs of an awakening, there is not yet a revival. Faced with these green shoots of hope, the church needs to find a way to respond: will we nurture these green shoots, through our prayers and practices, through our worship, welcome and witness... or will we trample all over them or leave them to wilt in the dry weather of summer? How will we join with the awakening work of the Spirit in our midst to bring the life-transforming message of the gospel to our local community?
These are questions which I hope the PCC and wider church will be able to discuss, pray through and discern how God is speaking to us in the months ahead. But I leave you with another research statistic which challenged and delighted me in equal measure: a third of all respondents said that they would come to church if someone they trusted asked them. That's one in three people. I wonder who we might be able to invite to church to receive the good news of hope, meaning, purpose and forgiveness this springtime?
