Merry Christmas and
Happy New Year!
Does it feel like a
New Year to you? Anyone already make and
then break a resolution? Was anyone
looking forward to putting 2015 in the past?
I confess I was. Not to say it
was all bad—there were some very good times in 2015—times of joy for sure. Still, there were also days when I’d hear the
news or see all that was going on in the world, and I’d think: Maybe next year will be better.
Now here it is NEXT
YEAR. Or rather, the new year,
2016. Now, “Maybe next year will be
better,” needs to be reframed into, “How will I contribute to making this year
a better year?” How will I work to make
2016 better for myself and for my family?
How will I make it better for my church and my community? How will I make it better for this country
and this world? —God’s world.
Do I even believe the
world can be better?
Of course I do.
I don’t just believe
it, I know it.
I am a child of God,
just as each of you are God’s children and we know that the world we live in is
not the world God had intended for us.
We know the story, the story of the creation, when God created the world
and called it good. We, as Christians,
are called to a faith that believes not only that the world can be good, but
that we have not only the potential to bring about that goodness but the
responsibility as Her stewards. We
believe in being made New because we believe in a God who makes all things New.
So Happy New
Year! The is a new year, the world can
be made new, and so can you.
Our God is a God of
newness and renewal from the very beginning right? “In the beginning…” God is older than
time. God is Alpha and Omega. God is as old as the cosmos and yet always
being made new and inviting us into the ongoing call of creation and newness.
In the Gospel of
John, the author affirms the God of newness and renewal by the opening the
Gospel with the very same words that open Genesis, “In the beginning…” As David Lose says, that takes some real
Chutzpah. Because calling our minds back
to the very beginning means that John is writing the New Genesis. John is telling us that the birth of Jesus
into flesh and human form is every bit as cosmos shattering as the beginning of
the cosmos itself—Jesus coming into the world changes everything and every
being from that moment forward.
Do you believe?
Once it was all a
dull and formless void and then there was light.
Once we didn’t know
what we were here for and then came the Word.
The Word was with God
and the Word was God.
John reminds us (who
sometimes are prone to forgetting these things) that God and Jesus are
one. Even though Jesus was born into the
flesh only two thousand and some years ago, Jesus has always been (except for
those three lightless days) and Jesus will always be. Jesus was with God in the whirlwind, with God
before the world began.
Jesus filled with grace
and truth, Jesus who gives us the power to become children of God, Jesus who
gives us all grace upon grace; that Jesus is with us and within all of us by
the power of the Spirit. We have the
power to do good and to be good. And
surely that means we can make the world better.
Starting from where
we are right now…
A caution first…my
brother and I liked perfect records so much that when we were trying to have 10
perfect days without soda or 10 perfect days of walking, if we drank a soda or
forgot to go for a walk, we started back at day 1. Don’t do that to yourself. Each day is a new day. And your goodness matters, no matter
what. So don’t get discouraged if a day
isn’t going as planned, just keep going.
What can you do this
week to start making the world a better place?
Can you get rid of some of the clutter that is filling your space and
making it difficult for you to focus on those people and things that really do
matter to you? Can your family set up a
no phone night where everyone agrees not to make or take a call, text, etc.? Is there anyone you can be a little kinder
to? That would include yourself.
God loves us. Jesus loves us. They are Love. And love is the power to change the
world. So hold the Word in your heart
this week and carry that Word, listen to it, what is the Word telling you to
do?
Do that!
Jesus is whispering
in your ear.
Listen.
Can you hear?
Thanks be to God.
Amen
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