Hello,
Happy New Year!
Some years ago, I went to Cameroon to spend four weeks
visiting Lutheran congregations in the northern part of the country. It was a life and faith changing
experience. Our trip began in February,
and after a rather harrowing plane ride from the main city to our destination
in the north we experienced a life quite removed from what we were used to; a
life untouched by electricity, plumbing, paved roads, and the regulation and pressure
of time.
“You Americans,” they would say, “have all the watches. We have all the time.” Because time had so little power and regiment
to their lives, there was something else that we regularly saw and heard that
caught me by surprise.
“Happy New Year!” was a regular greeting, and large banners
wishing the same were strung in large and small towns….even though by the time
that we left nearly two months has passed since the change of the calendar.
Over and over again in this generally timeless world, there
was a reminder that the new year had come.
It seemed odd, odd enough to ask why this ongoing reminder….but, the
time we spent with our Cameroonian friends passed without me getting a chance
to ask. So, I can only guess…..and here
is my guess….the past has a way of clinging on to us…..the good and the
bad. The successes and failures. The disasters and the gains. The joys and the sorrows. Unfortunately, the good always seems to have
a rather frail grip, but the bad’s grip is tenacious. Truth is, the bad of the past has a way of
clinging tightly no matter what kind of world one lives in, but for those whose
lives are not insulated from the swirling winds of the world, the strength of
the clinging power of the past’s bad is very obvious.
So, “Happy New Year!”…everywhere you go, everywhere you look
in order to shake off the past as rigorously as possible. “Happy New Year! No matter what has happened,
at least we made it though.” “Happy New Year!
The calendar pages have been ripped off and we’re starting off brand
new.” “Happy New Year! If life has been hard, who knows, maybe the
upcoming year will be different.” Like
one of those machines that shakes a Christmas tree, hoping to knock off all the
dead pines before you take it home, so the signs and welcomes of “Happy New
Year!” are meant to rattle our lives.
Problem is, the past has the power of Gorilla Glue to hold
on. Debts … grief …. fears … hurts … shame
… guilt … despair ………… a power that clings with super human might … a power
that the wishes we offer with human hands and words cannot shake loose. No matter where one lives. No matter how often we say, “Happy New Year!”
But listen to this! “SO IF
ANYONE IS IN CHRIST, THERE IS A NEW CREATION;
EVERYTHING OLD HAS PASSED AWAY; SEE EVERYTHING IS NEW!” (2 Corinthians
5:17…capitals, bold, and underline intended.)
In Jesus Christ, God has shaken the universe with a power that nothing
can withstand…nothing….not even death!
Making every year….every day…every moment brand new. Even though the world still sees the past
clinging onto us after the world shakes us, not so with God. When God shakes us with his grace, the only
thing from the past that God sees holding onto us is his hold of God’s love on
us. And with God’s love being the only
thing that clings onto us, we are empowered to live in this world with newfound
hope, courage, peace, and joy. “FOR I
AM CONVINCED THAT NEITHER DEATH, NOR LIFE, NOR ANGELS, NOR RULERS, NOR THINGS
PRESENT, NOR THINGS TO COME, NOR POWERS, NOR HEIGHT, NOR DEPTH, NOR ANYTHING
ELSE IN ALL CREATION WILL BE ABLE TO SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD IN CHRIST
JESUS OUR LORD.” (Romans 8:38,39)
So, as you step into this new year, this new month, this new
day, this new moment do so with feeling the grip of God on your life and the
power of his shaking and amazing grace.
Have a great day.
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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