What’s New About Your New Year?
So what’s the use of celebrating the coming of a new year unless it is a milestone for reflecting on the past year and the starting line for new beginnings in your life? If the only part of life that changes with the new year is throwing away your wall calendar to replace it with a new one, then why celebrate the new year? There is no reason to set aside time to recognize the beginning of a new year if all that changes is the genre of pictures on your wall calendar!
John Wesley recognized this, seeing the importance of utilizing this celebration for reflection and re-commitment. Starting this tradition in 1755, Wesley called the service a “Covenant Service.” It was typically held on either New Year’s Eve or the first Sunday of the new year. It was a service specifically meant to aid in reflecting on the past year, seeing what needs to change, and rededicating the whole of one’s life to God.
I’m not the biggest believer that just because someone else did it in church history, we should. I’m the last person to ever say, “That’s how we’ve always done it,” as reasoning for doing something. Tradition is good to look at and glean from, but not in the least amount imperative to use. However, in my opinion, there is much to glean from Wesley’s tradition of the “Covenant Service.”
This comes down to more than New Year’s Resolutions and just trying to better oneself. This goes beyond mere self-improvement tapes and “7 Habits to a Sucessful Life” junk. This goes farther than Joel Osteen’s “fortune cookie” way of using the Bible as a self-help manual. This goes to the depth of our souls as we understand that we are not our own, but are God’s. We are His servants and owe Him every part of our lives for His use. This is why we need to take time like this to reflect, re-evaluate, and re-focus with new goals, dreams, and passions for the coming year. It is taught throughout scripture that each arena of life (physical, mental, emotional, social, etc.) is a part of one’s spirituality and one’s striving towards holiness. All those parts matter to God. Since we are creatures of forgetfulness and distraction, we have to take time out of our busy lives to evaluate where we’ve been, where we are, and where we want to be. Even more than where, we need to evaluate who we’ve been, who we are, and who we want to be.
Take time over these next few days to pray and think through this. Take extra time to evaluate this past year. Think about what you’ve done. Celebrate your successes and relationships with others. Mourn your mistakes and shortcomings. Think on who you’ve been. Take joy in your growth as a person and your discipline to become more like Jesus. However, recall your selfishness and tendencies to fall back into self-centered desires. Learn from all of this and look forward to this coming year. How do you want to be different? How do you want to walk closer with the Spirit every day? How do you want to serve instead of take? How do you want to love instead of hate? Think about each area of your life (physical, mental, emotional, social). These parts are a part of your spirit as well. When these areas of your life are marked by balance and discipline, your spiritual life begins to take on better balance and discipline as well. Measure yourself up in each of these areas.
Let these not be merely new year’s resolutions, but commitments made in a covenant with God.
Good post. I’ve been in a deep time of self-evaluation over the last few months due to recent life events. We should all do this more often.
Thanks for your comments on my blog. I stumbled upon you when I searched for fellow bloggers who also enjoyed “Mere Christianity.”
So in re-reading your “What’s New” post, I have to ask: Who do you want to be this year? And what will you change?