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Viewpoint from Rev Nick Ktorides for 12th September 2014

Rev Nick Ktorides
Curate at St Andrews Church, Gorleston

The Alpha-Bet!
 
Many people today find themselves in a place of hopelessness through all sorts of causes in a world that, more often than not, seems to work against human hope. Hopelessness, through circumstances within as well as beyond one’s control, seems to be the order of the day in many parts of the UK today.  It certainly seems so in this part of Norfolk.  Recently the charity, Christians Against Poverty pointed out (The Advertiser, Yarmouth Sept 4, p5) how the  recession, cutbacks in the private and public employment sector and relationship breakdowns have been increasing the struggle and misery of local residents. “The saddest thing is when families struggle to feed their children”

Very sadly, too, the hopelessness of the seniors impacts children, as the Children’s Society observes:  “Youngsters also become unhappy at having to go without and worry about their families’ problems.”    Hopelessness in the human condition reduces the quality of life more than the material things one does not or cannot have. The maxim ‘while there is life there is hope’  encourages beleaguered humanity  that while we  journey through life hope must remain a possibility - death does not hold out such a possibility; only the conscious person can feel, know and embrace hope, and also sense what it means to be hopeless.
 
 The Christian proclamation comes as a startling rejoinder to our society’s stark and gloomy outlook: that Jesus says: “I am the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Rev 22.12, 13).  ‘Alpha’ is the name of the first letter of the Greek alphabet, but as with any alphabet, it doesn’t end there- it’s just the beginning!   You need to travel the terrain of the Greek alphabet and journey through Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta….. and on you must go - if you’re going  to arrive at Omega, the very last letter. 
 
We’re beginning an Alpha course at St Andrew’s Gorleston later this month.  The Alpha course introduces you to the first letter, Alpha, and stimulates you to arrive at the last letter, Omega.  The Alpha course then, is about meeting with the Alpha, JESUS and journeying to the Omega, JESUS.
 
Jesus promises new hope and new life, and He is very qualified to do so since He beat death and came back to life. This course may be a journey that leads you out of despair into an unexpected place of hope, as you pass through and emerge with new vitality to  say,  like  Thomas the doubter finally did,  that  “Jesus is my Lord and my God”.  It should be an exciting and worthwhile venture to start from Alpha and carry on to Omega and see if you find at the end - HOPE!