1 January 2012
Although, from the perspective of the Church Calendar, the New Year has already begun (on Advent Sunday), from the perspective of living in the world, this Sunday begins 2012. At the start of a New Year it can be a valuable and profound exercise to meditate on the values and practices that will guide us through the year to come. The readings for this Sunday certainly help us to do this as they focus on our connectedness with God and others, on God’s work in our lives through the seasons of God’s grace, and on our responsibility to serve and care for one another.
May we start this year with a new commitment to live as agents of Christ’s grace and love in our world.
Note: Because of the unique calendar of this year, with Christmas Day and New Year both falling on a Sunday, there are three options for January 1st – Christmas 1, New Year or Epiphany. The following resources are designed for New Year. Click on these links for Christmas 1B or Epiphany.
READINGS:
Ecclesiastes 3:1-13: There is a time for everything, and has God has made all things good in their time, while placing eternity in the hearts of human beings.
Psalm 8: A song in celebration of God’s majestic name, and of the grace that God has given to humanity by placing us as caretakers of creation, making us just a little less than divine.
Revelation 21:1-6a: A vision of God’s dwelling being established among human beings, and God wiping away tears, making everything new & giving life.
Matthew 25:31-46: Jesus tells the parable of the sheep and the goats, where those who have served the poor, sick and marginalised are celebrated as having done it to him, while those who have not are sent away.
REFLECTIONS ON THEME:
God is intricately involved and revealed in human beings and their affairs, and God invites human beings to participate in God’s affairs.This is the twin message that we are given for the start of this new year. In Ecclesiastes the rhythm of the seasons is recognised and yet, even in the midst of time, we are invited to recognise how God has placed eternity – God’s perspective and values – in our hearts. With this in mind, we find joy in working since our work has a part to play in God’s purposes. In Psalm 8 we read the miraculous affirmation that we have been made God’s representatives as caretakers of creation, and are just a little less than divine – we share, not just in God’s work, but in God’s nature! In Revelation we are given a vision of God refusing to remain separate and aloof from humanity, but seeking to dwell among us and to bring life to us in every way. Finally, the unity between God and humanity is shown in a powerful and challenging way through Jesus’ parable, as we recognise not just that God is present and revealed through all people – especially the marginalised and vulnerable – but that we are called to serve God by serving those in whom God is revealed (which is, of course, everyone). There could hardly be a more comforting and challenging way to begin a new year than to affirm our unity with God and God’s with us, and recognise the responsibility that this gives us to be servants of God as we serve one another and creation. If we can commit to this vision, it will truly change the way the year unfolds for us.
CONNECTING WITH LIFE:
GLOBAL APPLICATION: Our world suffers under the obsession we have with dividing and separating things. We divide between genders, races, religious groups, economic level and nationality. We divide between us and creation, between us and other creatures. We divide between us and God. However, it is these very divisions that have hurt us, that have left us believing that we can exploit the earth without it hurting us, that we can attack other nations or groups without any repercussion or consequence, that we can cut God out of our lives without any loss of ourselves. Yet, even as we have lived according to our separations, we have begun to see how false they are, and we have discovered that we do suffer as a result. Financial decisions that are made by one group or nation can plunge the entire world into crisis. Exploitation of the world’s resources ends up hurting our planet and bringing poverty, natural disasters and shortages of food and water to us. Disregarding the needs of the poor, or rejecting the need to be mindful and careful in our use of our financial and other resources, leads to uprisings, and crises that harm us all. At this juncture in human history little could be more important than for us to recognise our connectedness again – with each other, with our planet and its creatures, and with God. Little could be more important than to remember the rhythms that God has built into the universe and to participate in God’s purposes for it all. It is only as we begin to rediscover God’s presence among us, rediscover our purpose in God’s purpose and principles, and rediscover our common life that we will experience the abundant life that Jesus spoke of and that we will recapture our true humanity.
LOCAL APPLICATION: It is fashionable to view our world and our societies through a competitive lens. We are either on one side of the political spectrum or the other. We are either "in" or "out". We either support one side of a debate or the other. We are either "friends" or we are "enemies". While there may be times when such competitive thinking is helpful and necessary, if it is the only lens through which we see the world, we will ultimately suffer the consequences. As our families fragment, our communities dissolve and our religions get lost in suspicion of one another, we all end up losing. But, when we begin to recognise the power in collaboration, when we see how our actions and decision affect others, and how theirs affect us, we are able to find ways to both honour our diversity and celebrate our unity. We begin to be able to recognise and affirm our interdependence and co-operate with one another to find solutions. We no longer get caught up in win-lose thinking, where the success of one group or religion or community or gender means that others must suffer loss. Rather we begin to take our responsibility as God’s representatives and bearers of the divine image seriously and we learn that when one loses we all lose, and for any of us to win, we must all win. When we embrace our connectedness – and the responsibility to serve one another that this necessarily implies – we find great joy in coming together, in learning to love and grow together, and in building a peaceful, God-honouring world together. This year may we commit to being people who honour our connectedness with others, rather than those who foster division and conflict.
RESOURCES FOR WORSHIP:
Prayers:
Finding God Together
The Family You Have Given
Biographers Of The Least
Serving All
This Hidden Kingdom
Strange Co-Workers
Hymn Suggestions:
Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah
O God Our Help In Ages Past
A Charge To Keep I Have
O Jesus I Have Promised
Jesus Calls Us
Servant Song (Link to YouTube video)
God Of Justice (Link to YouTube video)
Hear Our Praises (Link to YouTube video)
May The Words Of My Mouth (Link to YouTube video)
Everlasting God (Link to YouTube video)
Everyone Belongs
Liturgy:
A Liturgy for the Lord’s Supper
Video Suggestions:
Turn! Turn! Turn! (Wilson Phillips) (Link to YouTube video)
Matthew 25:31-41
Least Of These
