Begin again

It’s false really isn’t it? The sun, moon and the stars are blissfully unaware of January 1st, or 2014, although they can be pretty useful in measuring things like days and months. Heaven itself probably doesn’t have a calendar; although I would concede that there might be a really big one with two dates on it—this present age when Christ is seated in glory, and the age to come, when Christ will come and their will be a new heavens and a new earth. We won’t need to buy a new one each year.

However the reflective element of a New Year beginning is a useful thing, it gives us a chance to begin again. At our 10.30am service on January 5th there will be a liturgy that helps that frank assessment of our lives and our discipleship, including a covenant prayer, found below, which in essence says ‘this life is yours, this year is yours, all that I’ve grabbed back over the last year, I let go of again.’ It is a moving and challenging prayer because at the heart of our sin is that stubborn unwilling self.

Then at 4pm on January 5th, four members of our congregation will be wading out into the waters of baptism, at the Activity Zone, and being baptised in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I love baptisms because it is a joy to see the work of God in somebody’s life, to consider the potential of a human life in God’s hands, and to see God’s grace and mercy meet human sin and frailty.

I also love baptism because I think of the man that baptised me, a Methodist minister called the Revd Collins who I never met, and the pastor that baptised him, and the one that baptised him, and the unbroken chain of baptism within the church that stretches back to Christ’s first disciples (John 4:1-2). That is a breathtaking lineage to ponder. Who do you think you are?

But whether a 365-day year actually exists in God’s kingdom or not, January 1st does give each of us a chance to recover from accidental living, life swept along by the world, and to return to intentional living, a considered life with God’s priorities and God’s word right at the heart. Now that might seem like a really boring sentiment to start the New Year with, and if that’s what you’re thinking please begin the New Year with a slap and a gentle rebuke from me. If you’ve ever read the Bible, or any Church History for that matter, boring is not the word you’d use to describe the life that is lived for God, and God alone. Have a holy 2014.

I am no longer my own but yours.

Your will, not mine, be done in all things,

wherever you may place me,

in all that I do and in all that I may endure;

when there is work for me and when there is none;

when I am troubled and when I am at peace.

Your will be done when I am valued and when I am disregarded;

when I find fulfilment and when it is lacking;

when I have all things and when I have nothing.

I willingly offer all that I have and am

to serve you, as and where you choose.

Glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

you are mine and I am yours.

May it be so for ever.

Let this covenant now made on earth

be fulfilled in heaven. Amen.

       

        (A New Year Covenant Prayer)