So It's A New Year

January 1:
So, it's a new year. I can't help but ask again, "What's really new?" For most of us the only thing that separates today from every other day is that we have this day free from our regular work. And even that isn't "new" for all of those people who are presently between jobs.

The weather today is a lot like the weather we had yesterday and the forecast for tomorrow is much the same. I've been told that there is fractionally more daylight today than there was yesterday, but I didn't really notice. It has always struck me that the first day of the new year (no matter which year you choose) is remarkably similar to the last day of year that has just passed.

Having said all that...I am always amazed at how much HOPE is expressed on this extraordinarily ordinary day. For some reason we all feel that we have been given a chance to do things differently. We probably won't be making any more money than we did last year and we probably won't be having any more free time than we did 24 hours ago but, we walk into this new year determined to lose weight or get more exercise or call our mother more often. The new year comes filled up with an almost irrational HOPE that things will be all different.

This whole New Year's resolution process suggests to me that we are all looking for opportunities to be "better" than we have perceived ourselves to be and that we are willing to be honest with ourselves on this one day in a way that we tend to avoid for the 364 days that follow.

In the Christian faith we talk about how Jesus came to offer us an opportunity to change our lives. Our whole message is about hope and new life which sounds a lot like what all of us New Year's day people are longing for and yet the when we use words like "confession" which means being upfront about what needs to change in our lives and "repent" which means turning away from what has been, so that we can embrace new life, it is seen as narrow minded and uncaring. I wouldn't be the first person to suggest that the church has a marketing problem.

The real similarity between new year's and the Christian faith is that we all might want a new life, but we have a really hard time letting go of the old one. Losing weight sounds great until we realize that we might have to give up chips or beer or chocolate cake. Stepping away from our old life sounds good until we realize that all of our friends and our jobs and our entire way of life are connected to that old life. That's why new year's resolutions and the Christian faith are both opportunities we should never attempt to do alone. We need each other. We need support. We need strength that comes from beyond ourselves. After all, if we could make these changes easily we would have done it last year.

This one day of the year is the moment when our hope and our need both become the most apparent. Let's take advantage of this new day.