Well, it’s a New Year once again! 2022 has finally arrived. I like New Year, There’s something about it that makes things different. There is renewed sense of optimism, that sense of turning the page or starting a new book.
There is the sense that in future, things will be better, things can and will change, we don’t need to be stuck in our old ways of thinking or being. And I think that’s true despite the pandemic that we are continuingly going through.
And as it’s new year, of course, it’s time as ever for the New Year’s resolutions.
So I wonder what New Year’s Resolutions you have decided on?
Here are a few examples, some of the classics, Chocolate, eating crisps, alcohol, coffee. Giving them up I mean. Not having them more!
Maybe some of you are thinking of taking something on this year. Perhaps it is going to be the year in which you get fit, or wanting to read more, or wanting to stay in touch with friends or family more or wanting to save more money, or even wanting to give more money to charities and causes that are important to you.
Here is a dictionary definition that I found for the word resolution:
- A firm decision to do or not to do something.
With a secondary definition of:
- The quality of being determined or resolute.
So a resolution is more than just saying, oh I’m going to try this thing today or that thing today and see how it goes, its firm, it’s grounded, it’s a decision not made lightly, it’s a decision that you are going to have to follow through on, not looking back but looking forward to your destination
What does all this have to do with God you might ask. Well, God is a God renewal as well. He has intentions, desires and passions. He has passion for his people and wants to see them redeemedThis is what it says in Isaiah 43: 15 and following.
I am the Lord, your Holy One, Israel’s Creator, your King.”
This is what the Lord says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
Here the Lord speaks to a people who are in distress, they are in the midst of their exile in Babylon. He assures them that despite their circumstances that he is with them. Here he assures them that they will be released from captivity. He assures them that he is doing a new thing. Remember that definition of resolution; he has made the firm decision to do something about the predicament of the Jews, and he has the resolve to see it through.
But look at what he also says; forget the former things, do not dwell on the Past. He is the God who is in your midst and is always doing something new. He is not a historical relic who just did something a long time ago which all you do is remember. He is doing something new, something greater, something better. The Glory of the Lord has come upon us, as we read in our reading from Isaiah this morning.
In our gospel reading today, the wise men see a light in the sky, and they follow it, all the way to Bethlehem to see this new thing that God has done. Actually, scholars have wracked their brains wondering what the Star actually was that they saw. Some think it was a supernova, others a comet. But most likely it was the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. Since Jupiter was considered the ‘Royal’ or the kingly planet in the solar system, it being the largest, and as the planet Saturn was sometimes thought to represent the Jews, we can conclude that the new royal king of Israel was about to come into the world.
Why would these men what would have been travel for thousands of miles, to see a boy who was to be born the King of the Jewish nation? These men after all, weren’t Jews. It doesn’t seem like the most sensible thing to do to our modern eyes.
The journey would have taken months. The journey would have been difficult, it would have been dangerous. There would have been the risk of bandits, especially with the gifts that we are told that they have.
And yet, despite these risks, despite the time that it takes, they go anyway, and they go because God has done something so amazing and so life changing I that little town of Bethlehem.
The wise men make a mistake at first, they go and see Herod, asking, where the child is to be born as the King of the Jews. One can understand this, if they were going to see the new king it would be natural to go to a palace! But this new thing God is doing, is not like any other thing that has ever happened ever. Herod is not a part of this New way, he is a part of the way of the world, of conniving and murder and hatred and fear.
Finally, they are told where the child is to be born, and travel to Bethlehem to give him their gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. Gold of course, representing the baby Jesus’ kingship over the earth. Frankincense, a symbol of his holiness and divinity, and Myrrh, to represent his death by which he will set us free from our sins
I’d like to finish by reading one of my favourite pieces of scripture,
It’s a prayer spoken to God by a man said by a man called Simeon when he met Jesus when he was just a few days old, a man promised by God’s holy Spirit that before he died that he would see the salvation that God had prepared for all of his people, he would see the Messiah. The Spirit leads him to the temple at the same time that the baby Jesus was taken there by his parents. And he sees the baby Jesus and he was filled with joy, and takes him in his arms, and he spoke the following prayer to God,
“Now, Lord, you let your servant go in peace: ¨
your word has been fulfilled.
My own eyes have seen the salvation ¨
which you have prepared in the sight of every people;
A light to reveal you to the nations ¨
and the glory of your people Israel.“ Luke 2.29-32
The best new year’s resolution anybody of us could ever have, would be to follow the life of this little child.
The best new year’s resolution any of us could make, would be to follow Jesus, and see this new thing that God has done, see him at work in our lives, see his power to change us, to free us from sin and death
The best thing we could do this new year’s, is to RESOLVE ourselves, to be determined to see the baby Jesus for who he is, just as the wise men did. The best thing we can do this year is bow down and worship him,
The best new year’s resolution we can make is to choose to trust in the living God, who in the former days did incredible things. It may be a small thing, to say a short prayer every day, it may be to say, Lord, I put my trust in you. It may be to take itme every day to thank God for all of the good things he has done for us.
We are not to forget about these ‘former things’ we are thankful for them, but we also look forward with an expectant hope that God will do even more amazing things in 2022.
Amen