There only a few hours left. Soon the days of 2021 will be all used up. Time moves on. We will soon turn the calendar page and reach the end. It will be time for something new--a new calendar.
For many years a good friend gave us a Japan Airlines calendar. My friend died this year. The space will hold a new, smaller calendar in 2022. I still miss my friend. Indeed, time moves on.
In the midst of some melancholy moments, I look forward today. It is obvious that many of you are looking forward to tomorrow, to a new beginning in a new year. This year, 2021, has been full of great challenges and some deep disappointments. We had hoped it might have been different.
Today, I am wishing a Happy New Year to everyone I meet. But, that greeting is a wish, empty without action. We stand at the threshold of something new. We are offered the gift of more time. If there is to be anything new and joyous about 2022, it will require that we are ready to embrace God's newness, to love in deed as well as in word, and to work hard for justice--"A Just World for All."
For too long we have been passive in our wishing and in our praying. Tomorrow will not be different and the new will soon fade, if we do not apply ourselves in new ways. When I turn the page and put away the old calendar, I will pledge to work for those causes and candidates that make the common good a priority. I will pledge to work to strengthen my community and be a peacemaker to help to heal the world's brokenness. I will pledge to respect everyone--even those with whom I strongly disagree. I will offer my efforts, while there is yet time, to build others up with grace and by speaking the truth.
So, as we turn the page and hang an new calendar, as we step over the threshold into something new, there are these questions: What do you pledge to do to embrace the newness? How will you seek to live while there is yet time? What is your vision for 2022 . . . and beyond?
Happy New Year, my friends!
Happy New Year!
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