A New Year

I'm not normally very much impressed with January 1. Of all the holidays we celebrate, the tick of the clock that signals the beginning of a new year is the least impressive one to me. Each year I watch the ball drop on Time's Square and then wonder what the big deal is. It's another day.

For some reason--and I have no idea why--this year has been different for me. The new year really feels, in many ways, new to me. Perhaps it is because the year 2008 brought so much bad news: a financial meltdown, a federal bail -out, an auto industry in crisis, a Michigan economy that's hobbling along--that it's now a relief to be entering into a new year. Perhaps, on a more positive note, it's because of things I've been reading--the writings of the Christian mystic Evelyn Underhill, in particiular--that have beckoned me to deeper experiences of communion with God and renewal. I'm not sure why exactly, but I'm very grateful for a new year. I have a sense of the fresh possibilites for my life and ours together.

Our Scriptures speak constantly of the possiblity of newness. To note just one example, Paul reminds the Corinthians that "if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new." I hear that as tremendously good news today: I am not destined to be stuck in yesterday's ruts; new, genuine, authentic possiblitites are open to me because I belong to the risen Lord.