South Yorkshire Times, December 29th, 1951
From the Rev. F. A. Casson, Rector of Darfield
I am very glad to have this opportunity of wishing You all every happiness and God’s blessing throughout 1952 For many years now, most people, have entered upon each New Year with fears, rather than hopes for the future, and this coming year does not hold out much likelihood of change.
“As far as the standard of living is concerned, 1952 is not likely to see any return to easier conditions. ‘Austerity’ is still a word used much more often than we should like.
“If we could only believe that the world was making slow but steady progress towards better days we could face life with equanimity, but our news bulletins and daily papers do not encourage us to feel that this is taking place. We hear and read of bitterness and misery, strife and unrest throughout almost the whole world. Certainly we can enter upon the New Year with no spirit of easy optimism. Many may feel that hopes of a ‘Happy New Year’ are no more than pathetic self-delusion.
“For ‘Hope springs eternal in the human breast,’ and it is good that it should, for we remember the man who said that most of his troubles had never happened. And in the words of the poet. ‘If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars.’
Many of our fears indeed never materialise, or are not as bad as we expected and to worry about them be forehand only means that we experience them twice over.
‘But the Christian recalls that Hope, Faith and Love are the three great hallmarks of his religion, and that his hope is not that of the ostrich which buries its head in the sand, hut is the sure and certain belief in the Providence of God. Nor does the Christian believe in a God who will make life easy for him and shield him from all harm. He knows however, that God is working His purpose out in spite of all the wickedness that man can contrive and he knows that that purpose is directed by love.
The Christian knows, too, that there is an inner citadel of the soul which, if truly committed to God, is safe from harm and that true joy and peace can indeed be experienced amidst all the trials that have beset us during recent years, and may well beset us during the year ahead.