Well, I’m sure more than a few of us will be happy to bid goodbye to 2021 with its lock downs, social distancing and abandoned parties (Whitehall ‘gatherings’ excepted of course). The word ‘different’ seems such an insipid description of such a traumatic 12 months.

This has certainly been a terrible time for so many with more than 147,000 deaths recorded in the UK and a staggering 5.3 million globally. Every death is a tragedy and of course these figures do not include those with long covid as well as the countless others affected by pressures on the health service.

And yet I believe we can learn some important lessons from all the chaos, confusion not to mention the grief and pain as we move into a new year. For example, this pandemic has surely shattered any delusion we might have entertained that we are in control of our lives. Frankly, words written by Jesus’ brother seem particularly relevant at a time when I place a question mark alongside every appointment in my calendar.

‘Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit”. How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.’

Given all this then I can’t help thinking that this is a very appropriate time to remind ourselves that far from being an irrelevant delusion the Christian faith can prove a source of great comfort and hope even in the darkest of situations. This became abundantly clear to me again a few weeks ago when I had the privilege of preaching at a fellow pastor’s funeral. I was able to tell everyone that right up to the end of his life he kept repeating two simple words: ‘Amen’ and ‘Hallelujah’.

He knew he was dying of course, but in spite of that he was very much at peace and believed that he would not die before his appointed time. Better still, he was convinced that when he did finally depart this earthly realm, he would enter another that would be infinitely more satisfying and enriching. He was a man of prayer too and firmly convinced that talking to God can change things. That is why he would have been delighted to hear the Chair of the Health Board tell the online Pembrokeshire Prayer Breakfast recently that prayer has made a very important contribution to all they are doing.

But while we are recognising that prayer can change things we must never shirk our responsibility of being agents for good either. Indeed God expects this of us which is why I am confident that whatever the pressures and challenges they face Christians will be at the coalface again in the coming months giving of their time and energies to improve the lives of others. A recent survey has shown that a large proportion of church members have reduced the regularity of their church attendance and that this has clearly had implications for volunteering and giving and yet I can honestly say that in spite of this I will continue to be inspired by the ways in which my fellow believers will be seeking to care for those in need. Foodbanks, CAP Debt Advice, Street Pastors are but a few examples of how they are demonstrating the authenticity of their faith. As James the brother of Jesus said ‘Anyone who sets himself up as “religious” by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world’.

Rob James is a Baptist Pastor, broadcaster and Moderator of Deer Park Baptist Church in Tenby.