Psalm 96:7-10 | 1 John 2:12-17 | Luke 2:36-40

The week between Christmas and New Years is unlike any other in the year. The anticipation and preparations of Advent are complete, Christmas Day rituals are done, and a hiatus descends, one that marks the end of a sacred season and a calendar year. The six days between Christmas and January 1 present an opportunity to ponder the message of the Savior’s birth and to lean into that message as we launch a new year in our lives. 

God so loved us that he sent his only Son to live among us and to die for us. As the excerpt from Psalm 96 reminds us, our sins are forgiven on account of his name. The Psalm goes on to assure us that we know him who is from the beginning, that we are strong and that the word of God abides in us. Those awesome assurances are like a wind at our backs, propelling us into a new year and inviting us to know and do the will of God. We know God’s will because his word abides is us. The stillness that follows the Christmas pageantry invites us to reconnect with that word – the word that arrived in the quiet of night in an unassuming stable. The word we find within us when we strip away the clutter and noise of our daily lives.

A new year is a powerful and frightening gift. It’s more than another day on a chronometer. It is an invitation to reset and restart. May we all grow, become strong, and gain wisdom in the new year so that we may live fully as Christ taught us to do, loving and caring for each other as God’s children.  

Stacey Nakasian