Sweet New Year 2018

Good Morning and Happy New Year’s Eve. I would like to share the following with you so you might know a little bit about me. I moved to Siren, Wisconsin almost 9 years ago to work for Webster Area Catholic Churches as Christian Formation Director and Pastoral Associate. My husband and I bought a distressed house in Siren where I took up residence but he remained in Southern Wisconsin where he was employed.

He loved fishing so this area looked wonderful to him. We worked on fixing up the house, travelling between Jefferson and Siren and planning his retirement. Soon our grandsons were born. I parted ways with the Roman Catholic Church and started helping my daughter with her daycare in Ladysmith. My husband’s dream of opening up a bait and fishing shop looked very promising but God’s plans were not the same as our plans. Shortly after Memorial Day weekend 2015 he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. I left the Siren area and returned to Jefferson to be with him as he battled to regain his health. But it was not to be. God called him home on June 9, 2016.

So for the rest of 2016 I commuted between the 2 houses, a five hour drive. Soon I realized that I had to let one go, so I placed our Jefferson house up for sale; a house we had lived in for 24 years. It sold within 10 days. I locked the doors of the Jefferson house late in June and once again took up residence in Siren. But this time I was a widow with lots of stuff.

Maybe my story might help us to look at the focus of trust in today’s first lesson. Do we trust in God and in God’s plans for us? How about honoring God’s timing of these plans? We can look back and remember happy times like weddings, birthdays and graduations. We also remember sad times like moving, leaving friends and funerals. We need to remember that God is present in all the moments of our lives. As we bid 2017 farewell we need to remember that time is fleeting and while we can look back to the past we cannot live there just as we can look with anticipation to the future but we cannot live there either. We only have NOW, this moment in time. And God promises to be with us every minute. This promise fills us with joy and we should shout it from the housetops. It’s very precious and that’s why it’s called the PRESENT, God’s gift to us here and now.

We also hear in our second lesson about another gift we have been given. A gift of great wealth, a gift full of freedom and promise. Our text mentions a special birth, a baby boy, born of a woman, a baby born under the law of the Old Testament. A baby sent by God into the world, God’s own self giving love, God’s Son whom we know as Jesus. In Jesus God’s promise to be with us every moment is fulfilled.

To remove any doubt about God’s promise we are told that we have been adopted into the family and are now heirs to the fortune. Jesus taught us to address God in a new way, to think of God as a loving parent not a distant, unreachable sire. The word Abba is often translated as dad, daddy or papa, a term of endearment. As adopted daughters and sons we are rich beyond measure and loved beyond comprehension. A most wonderful and amazing present at this Christmas season.

Well tonight is New Year’s Eve. In my opinion the most overrated night of the year. Will you be celebrating tonight? Like going to the movies, out for dinner or maybe going to the casino? Will you eat any special food to bring good luck in the New Year like pickled herring, coleslaw or boiled shrimp or might you drink a bit of spirits? Often times it’s safer to stay home and off the roads and to watch the crystal ball drop on TV. Lots of people sing Old Lang Syne and many will make New Year’s resolutions such as losing weight, joining a gym or quitting smoking or caffeine or other unhealthy addictions.

Yes there are lots of ways to celebrate the passing of the “old tired year” and welcoming “baby new year.” In today’s Gospel from Luke we hear more about this new baby boy by the name of Jesus and his family’s encounter with two ancient wise sages. Anna and Simeon had waited their whole lives to behold God’s anointed one, the Messiah.

That day in the Temple Anna and Simeon received the gift they had long awaited. They had resolved to spend every moment of every day living into the promise that God would not forget them. While it might seem they only concentrated on the future nothing could be further from the truth. Their relationship with God through prayer and reflection helped Anna and Simeon to recognize that God’s anointed one, the Messiah, was in their midst. A small baby, destined to change the course of human history. Many others might have seen this baby. An ordinary sight, some might have cooed and cuddled him, others might have been annoyed at the baby cries, while still others couldn’t be bothered.

But Anna and Simeon were different, their heighten sense of the God’s nearness was keen because they took the time for prayer and reflection. You might want to say they had made a “resolution” to be open and ready whenever God’s time was right. They trusted in God and in God’s time and plans for them. When the promise made to them came true they announced it openly for all to hear.

So today I want to challenge us to consider making a New Year’s Resolution. I know the idea of life-style change sounds good but often the intentions for these charges are short-lived. Even though most of us know we might fail in our endeavors for change we still proclaim our resolve to get healthy, lose weight or become a better person. If we are open to making changes to better our short mortal, finite life should we not also resolve to make improvements to our spiritual infinite life? Hopefully we will become more like Anna and Simeon, wise sages who set time aside to be in the presence of God and to welcome each new day as it comes. Have a happy and sweet new year. Amen

NOTES

Delivered (preached) January 1, 2018 at Danbury United Methodist Church in Danbury, Wisconsin and at Grace United Methodist Church in Webster, Wisconsin

First Sunday after Christmas Day

See Isaiah 61:10-62:3 and Galatians 4:4-7 and Luke 2:22-40