Happy New Year, friends!
I have long had a fascination with the traditions associated with our New Year's Eve celebrations - champagne toasts, nostalgic and hopeful singing of Auld Lang Syne, kissing that special someone as the clock strikes 12, making resolutions, and so on.
Still, over the past several years, my excitement for New Year's Eve has waned. At first, I thought it might be attributed to the dynamic of having kids or simply because I am growing older. Then, I came across these words of wisdom from Clarence Mccartney: "At the threshold of a new year, we stand today at one of those divisions of time which man established for his own convenience. The division is altogether imaginary and arbitrary. This day is no more the beginning of a new year than yesterday or the day before."
We sing this truth in the timeless hymn
Great Is Thy Faithfulness, don't we? "Morning by morning new mercies I see." The relentless grace of God pursues us every day, each one being the start of a new year. Thus, each morning (New Year's Day or not) begins with the same question, "How will we respond?"
This Sunday, we will remember the response of the Magi who traveled from afar to offer their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the newborn King of Kings. As we stand together at the division between 2016 and 2017, I invite us all to consider the ways we will respond to the grace of God and what gifts we will bring in the year to come.
See you on Sunday! Remember, we will be back to our regular schedule of worship at 8:15, 9:40, and 11:00. We will have childcare for children age 0 - preK, but no children's Sunday school.
Peace unto you,
Aaron
