board view alderman
Growing with ‘Hope, Joy’ from the ‘flames of 2020’
The trials of 2020 are like flames that engulf a crucible and transform elements within it. Financial hardships, shattered routines, political turbulence, novel sickness and in some cases, death, have charred many of us beyond the point of burnout this year.
Historically, we would embrace family and friends when surrounded by flames. However, the flames of 2020 are most forbidding because they denied us the congregation, which we were created to need, while enduring flames. At times, this denial left us more isolated than ever before.
I believe the flames of 2020 provide a sense of the incessant desolation humanity endured, century after century, until a cold, still night, in an austere village, 2,000 years ago. On that night, in the humblest of surroundings, the Prince of Peace was born, who would use the flames inundating humanity’s crucible to make something new and better. The new would give humanity Hope and Joy for the first time.
This year, we will celebrate the holidays differently than past years. Whether overindulging six feet apart at a Thanksgiving feast, opening Christmas presents in a Zoom meeting or conveying New Year best wishes during an old-fashioned telephone call, let us safely gather with loved ones this holiday season and gratefully remember the Hope and Joy given the world on that cold, still night.
Generations before us experienced renewed Joy when Hope made something new from the flames of world war, economic depression, natural disaster and global pandemic. I have every confidence Hope will again make something new and better from the flames of 2020 and bring us Joy.
Melissa, our girls, and I wish every Farragut resident a beautiful holiday season filled with Peace, Hope and Joy.
~ Scott Meyer
Alderman Ward 1
