Looking back and facing forward . . .

It's over and it begins. It is time for the annual changing of the guard. Once again it is time to take down the 2010 and put up the 2011 calendars. January is upon us once again. The month of January is named after the ancient Roman god, Janus, the god with two faces, one facing back and the other facing forward. In the act of taking down the old calendar we look back on 2010 with a degree of sober reflection and look forward with hope.

2010 has been a challenging year for the world from the earthquake in Haiti to the aberrant, hostile behaviour of North Korea and the crazy weather around the world which creates snow deluges, mud slides, flooding, and accompanying sequella. Nevertheless, through it all, we remain alive, blessed, and in remembrance. We appreciate God's grace and faithfulness. In looking forward into the future, we know that God's faithfulness is constant and while 2011 will bring its challenges, it also brings promise and occasions hope.

The New Year is a time of remembrance and promise. We celebrate the past, its moments of grace and blessing with an anticipation of grace and blessing still to come. We remember that in the good times and the bad, God is present and his love sustains us. The affections that characterize our lives in Christ continue into the new year: "a living faith, an expectant hope, and a humble love of God and one's neighbor" (see Henry Knight, The Presence of God in the Christian Life, p. 96).

For me personally, looking back and then forward occasions resolve (resolutions): 1) to pay more attention to God being more aware of his presence and deepening my understanding of his identity in Christ; 2) to intentionally nurture my faith and counter dissipation of faith by spending more time in communion/communication with God in prayer and reading of Scripture; 3) to more intentionally engage in acts of kindness and mercy with an increased sensitivity to the needs of others and a deepened capacity to love others in practical ways. In short, I hope to be more faithful to Christ's Great Commandment to love the Lord with all I've got and my neighbor, broadly speaking, as myself. How is this possible? By faith I know that God in Christ by the Holy Spirit both enables and invites us to do so, and to do so in response to his faithfulness and grace is pleasing to God.

My prayer for you for 2011 is that you will not merely have a Happy New Year. I hope your year will be a blessed one filled with meaning and purpose, because of your resolve to respond to the grace you continue to receive. May your life throughout 2011 be filled with joy and pleasing to God.

JSR