‘Hope springs eternal’ is such a wonderful saying and thought. When I was young, and well into my teens even, I struggled at times to know what the difference between hope and faith were. They seem so interchangeable, so close in meaning, and each concept can be stretched to join with the other. At times they are so closely fused. They are, together, an incredible power.
My home church from ages 4 to 17 was Hopedale, on the 3rd line in Oakville, a two minute walk from our school. We grew up with many stories of hope from this community, and this has always been a great source of hope, in itself, for me.
The next scene finds Nick and his trusty, furry friend (lookin’ fine and happy after the flea bath) walking around the curve of a railroad track. They are gathering coal that has fallen off of railroad cars and placing them in a large, cotton sack.
A block away from the neighbourhoods where my parents grew up in Hamilton was the Niagara Escarpment, and running along the base of this ‘Hammer Mountain’ was the THandB railroad line. We would cross it when we hiked up the mountain in search of salamanders and snakes, and quite frequently we’d see pieces of coal that had fallen from one of the railroad cars. Our grandmas would tell us how, especially during ‘hard times’, people would walk along the tracks looking for coal to warm their homes. Hamilton is home to 2 large steel foundries, both which were powered by coal. Where the track took a bend was the most likely spot to find the free fuel. What a delight this would have been!
Hope is what propels Nick. Faith means believing something. Hope means doing something about making something wonderful happen. Faith that it will come to be is the fuel that warms the heart and helps to give strength and power to the hope.
It was a comical and oh so familiar sight with the puppets, seeing Nick, dressed in his red and white finery, filling his large burlap sack. Doing something special. Filling it up with hope.
There’s a World Out There
https://orbitfriendly.bandcamp.com/track/theres-a-world-out-there
lyrics
Always the stray pieces that fall from the train as it comes around the bend here.
Well, it can be put to good use you know.
There’s many stoves and furnaces in this city that rely on black coal just like this for their heat.
But from the chimney of Emily Brown
I hardly noticed a puff of smoke coming out.Dear Johnny I got you letter
that you wrote to Santa Claus
And I wish you joy the whole year through
With the sack of coal I leave for you.
Yes. A sack of coal young man.
I know it might not seem fair
But you don’t always get what you want from me.
And if it was only you to ask I’d give you anything I could bring
But there’s a world out there.
And Santa doesn’t make room for extra toys
When you’ve got more than you could play with the rest of your life.
There’s a world out there.
I give you this coal
For I find it the perfect gift for you this Christmas.
You see a room near is cold.
And a mother and her babe have so little coal for their stove today.
So you can knock on their door
At fifteen twenty three Victrola street
Leave the coal that you got for Christmas
And be grateful!
There’s a world out there.
I wish you love your whole life through.
Affectionately, your good friend Nick.
Merry Christmas! Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho.
What do you think of our letter?
Ho, ho, ho.
Now we’ll just leave the sack of coal at the front door of young Johnny’s house
And I’m sure when he reads my letter
It will make him truly think of what Christmas is about.
There’s a world out there.
Well friend, I’d say it’s time that we’re off to Johnny’s house.
We’ll have this sack of coal at his front door before daylight.
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