Remember that we do not walk alone

In the ending of the old year and the beginning of the New Year we are bombarded with endless lists of the top 10 movies, music, fashion trends etc. and the prognostications of the latest experts on what to expect in the coming year.  For many the coming of the New Year is a light-hearted event with little thought given to the year that is past or what the future might bring.

The beginning of a New Year for me, is a time of mixed feelings. As a New Year begins, it is both a time of reflection on the old year that has drawn to a close, with all its joys and sorrows and looking to the days that have yet to unfold.  In reflecting on the events of the past year in the world in which we live, it is all too easy to see only the troubles and sorrows, thearise of senseless destruction and disregard for human life. To see only the injustice and poverty of the human spirit and imagination. 

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 In our own personal life we can be tempted to remember only our short comings and feeling of our inadequacies when we encounter the trouble and injustice of our world.  I wonder if all the top 10 lists make us feel that some how we should have done more, and we ask ourselves what mark, what difference did I make in the past year ?  

Looking forward can also be a very uncomfortable experience. Fears about the future of our family, our health and the environment,  employment and a myriad of other worries can quickly fill our thoughts. I often think about what kind of world are we leaving to our precious children and  grandchildren? Will they have the same quality of life that I so often take for granted?    

But we cannot let the loud voices of our fears and worries drown out the joyous songs of the angels and the celebration of Christmas and the Epiphany that we have just celebrated. In the midst of the seeming chaos of our world and at times own personal lives, we remember and affirm the message of Christmas – God with us.  The Incarnation, where in the living God took flesh and was born in a stable to share the joys, sorrows, doubts and questions of being alive in the 21st century.  For me the truth of the Incarnation becomes the focus of my way of seeing and understanding the world. When I stop and remember that my life has been redeemed and that I am a son of the living God by Christ’s death and resurrection a member of the Body of Christ, a sense of peace comes into my life. I realize that the temporary chaos around and within me will not overwhelm me, but that Jesus Christ has me and all who I love in His hands.  

Being a Christian does not mean that the brokenness of the world will not touch my life, or the lives of those I love,  but rather in the midst of the world I walk with and in Christ.    In a sense the turmoil in the world does not define me or you, but it is our membership in the Body of Christ that is the ultimate truth and reality. Just as the parable from the Gospel of Matthew 7:24-27 about building our house on the sand or the rock, our faith in Jesus is a sure rock on which to build our lives and that faith will withstand all the chaos and turmoil that we will surely meet.  That is why sharing week by week in our Parish Eucharist is so important, it is a constant reminder that we walk not alone but in the great company of disciples on earth and in heaven and that we are nourished and sustained by the grace, mercy and love of God which will never fail.   This new year, bring your fears, your hopes and worries to Him and allow the living God in our midst bring the gift of the peace of God which passeth all understanding.