Message: New Beginnings

[Pages:2]Message: New Beginnings

6 January 2019

Allow me to take this opportunity to formally wish all of you a Happy New Year! Of course, we all know that New Year's Day is January 1st, but that wasn't always so. Ancient cultures celebrated the

New Year on the autumnal equinox, the winter solstice or the vernal (spring equinox). The New Year was moved to January 1st in pre-Christian Rome with the implementation of the Julian calendar and remained on January 1st with the advent of the Gregorian calendar (the one we use) in 1582. For those

of you who haven't brushed up on your ancient history lately, the Julian calendar, implemented by Julius Caesar, came into effect in Ancient Rome on 1 January 45 BC with January 1st dedicated to

Janus, for whom January is named. Janus was the Roman god of gateways and new beginnings.

New beginnings. Before we can truly move forward we must first make peace with the year just past. Just as business owners take inventory at the end of a year, so we must take a moment and reflect on our actions, challenges, sorrows, and accomplishments of the past year. The purpose is not to dwell on the positive or negative aspects of the year, but to have a solid grounding in where we have been before we take time to make any necessary adjustments and plan where we are going.

So, what adjustments do you need to make? Did you take one of these adjustments and use it to form a new year's resolution? Looking back on 2018 I have had to face great personal loss while recognizing that it was one year of many years of change on the horizon. After all, the pension board says I can retire in October 2021. In December that seemed so far away. Somehow, January 1st made that target date seem so much closer. Is it time to seriously look at where I have been and where I hope to go.

Such introspection may come from or even reinforce a sense of pain or even despair. Perhaps we convince ourselves that we must first mend our ways, we must repent before we can experience the joy of God's presence, His love for us. Perhaps this is what drives us to make a new year's resolution. Marian B. Moon

6 January 2019

This is the time of resolutions, of promises we make to ourselves to do or not to do something; to act to solve a problem or dispute. We do so because we recognize that a change is necessary or in our best interests so that we can live the full life we desire and that God promised. What kind of life do you desire? Where are you going? Isaiah tells us: "Lift up your eyes and look about you." We are called to see the possibilities all around us. Hear the eruption of light and glory, or consolation and joy that comes out of the darkness and gloom of Isaiah 58 and 59. There is a yearning for the light and glory yet to come; we await the light, but do so surrounded by darkness. And then Isaiah's words in the opening of chapter 60 rush in. But hear his words. We are not called to repent or mend our ways before we can experience the joy of God's promise. Isaiah is writing about epiphany, but not the one centred on the arrival of the maji. He is writing about the epiphany in the sense of revelation, the revelation that will come in Jesus Christ. Epiphany is God's self-revelation to the world through Jesus who brings us hope, peace, joy and love. The Word made flesh. God offers himself and His love without condition. Our repentance, the mending of our ways, the living out of justice is a response to this coming not a requirement for its arrival. It is not an attempt to be made right with God but it is thanksgiving for the One who comes, who reveals life and salvation.

The New Year brings new hopes and new aspirations. Embrace the possibilities. Live a life full of love, recognizing your blessings and be willing to share those blessings along with your talents with those around you be it friend, neighbour, family member or stranger. Then you will live the words of Isaiah we heard this morning: "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you." Here's to new beginnings.

Amen.

Marian B. Moon

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