Pastor Devin Strong
Spirit of Peace Lutheran Church
I saw a Facebook meme recently, “Before I agree to 2023, I want to read the terms and conditions first!” It has been that kind of year—or three. Prices are high. Political tensions endure. Covid will not go away, and this season we have significant outbreaks of the flu and the RSV virus. It’s enough to make us want to cancel our subscription to the new year!
But I maintain that you and I desperately need the hope that turning over the calendar brings. We need to be able to leave the failures of last year behind. We need the fresh start and another chance to get things right. Unfortunately, we know how this goes. We all make sincere resolutions to eat better, lose ten pounds, and exercise more, but a couple of weeks into January, we find ourselves lying in bed and feeling guilty that we are enjoying that warm bed more than committing to that that early morning run. Pretty soon our New Year’s promises are just one more thing to feel guilty about.
In the Lutheran Church we strive to imbue worshippers with the power of a fresh start by beginning each worship service with corporate confession and forgiveness, but worship becomes so routine that I am not sure that everyone walks away feeling like they have turned a page. Our Roman Catholic sisters and brothers practice individual confession and forgiveness, in the hope that naming your particular sins and hearing that absolution spoken directly to you will have a lasting impact.
Either way, the problem — like secular New Year’s resolutions — is that you and I try to manufacture this new beginning on our own. No matter how badly we want it, most often, we fail. Solo projects don’t work.
We know from experience that partnership, accountability, and community work. The success of Weight Watchers is not that they understand nutrition better than anybody else. It’s that they gather folks struggling with weight into support groups, and everyone knows that those weekly weigh-ins are coming. Likewise, the success of Twelve Step groups is also regular community meetings and individual sponsors. Who would have thought that a bunch of drunks with no medical or psychiatric training meeting in a church basement could be of help to so many? Even the success of the church is certainly not that individual Christians are saintlier than anybody else. It is that when we come together, pool our offerings, and build on one another’s talents, we can multiply our service far beyond its individual parts.
Here’s a thought as we begin 2023. Instead of torturing yourself with unrealistic expectations that you are going to transform yourself by a sheer act of will, give yourself a gift. This year reach out for community. Find a friend to walk with each morning. Meet with someone monthly for lunch to discuss a problem that you are both wrestling with. Join a Bible study. Come to worship week in and week out even when you’d rather stay in bed and join with a whole sanctuary full of recovering sinners who admit that we all have the same basic problem--we need God’s presence!
New beginnings are good. More than that, they are essential. Everyone needs a chance to clear the books. But let’s not set ourselves up for guilt and failure again this year. Let’s reach out in partnership and accountability and do 2023 TOGETHER.
God Love You, and So Do I!
Pastor Devin Strong