On this 9th Day of Christmas, we are probably already looking toward the new year. Christmas decorations might already be put away. We’ve celebrated the coming of the New Year. Maybe we’ve made New Year’s resolutions (and already broken them).
But for others there is still the anticipation of the rest of the Christmas Story, which unfolds through January 6th, the traditional end of the Christmas season. Epiphany. Singing Christmas Carols is still important, and meaningful.
In the midst of it all I believe most of us are looking forward. 2020 is upon us. A new year. The true message of Christmas calls us into the new year, calling us forward, not backward.
Called to what?
Christians are called to a renewal of life in Christ. To a life of responding to the challenges Jesus put before us. To care for those in need. To love one another, and to love even our enemies.
My Tradition, Methodism, is rooted in the understanding of Jesus’ mission as interpreted by Rev. John Wesley. He was an Anglican priest living in Great Britain in the 18th century. On New Year’s Eve he held a Watchnight service, a rededication of our commitment to Christ in the year to come. One part of it so impressed me that I pray it each Sunday before I preach.
Lord,
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me have all things; let me have nothing.
Let me be full; let me be empty.
Let me be employed for you, or
Laid aside for you.
I freely and willingly give my heart to you
In faith and in trust.
For me the prayer is a letting go of outcomes. It is a recognition that God asks me to completely trust in God, to trust the process of life itself. Now that doesn’t mean I just float around hoping all will be well. Jesus reminds me constantly that the work of revealing/building God’s kindom (yes I said Kin-dom. I think that is more meaningful. We are all kin. Children of God.) There is a saying that, if you pray for potatoes, you’d better have a hoe in your hands.
Always keeping in mind that the work is God’s, and not ours. We may think we know for sure what God wants, but time and again history has evidenced how little we really know. The Earth is the center of the universe? The Earth is flat? Women’s roles are subordinate to men. Contemporary issues like LGBTQ persons, abortion, how we treat those who don’t look like us. We may think we have the Biblical answers. We are certain. I’m just saying I’m not so sure.
In fact I believe that to seek and find the Truth, we have to risk all we believe to be true turned upside down.
After all we DO have a New Testament. What is wrong with the old one?Clearly, early Christians resignified the Old Testament, which is why it’s still a part of our Christian scriptures.
So here we go. A new year, and the question, “How will we live it?”
Three years ago I shared that I had leukemia. Well, symptoms have affected me to the point we are getting ready for the one cure: a bone marrow transplant.
Sunday will be my last for a while. I hope to be back for Easter Sunday. In the meantime I will continue to pray the prayer of letting go. God knows what is best for me, for my family.
I’ll submit columns when I can. Thanks for your kind thoughts and support. Thank you IV Press for the opportunity to share my thoughts.
To a Happy and healthy New Year!
A Faith Journey 