December 24th, 2024

​What is a New Year?
 
It is the passing of time. It is a time where new beginnings happen. It is a time that people assign to celebrate new choices and new opportunities. It is a time to forget what was behind and focus on the future.
 
That is what “Happy New Year” is all about for me. And at the same time, that is the reason to celebrate Christmas, Holy Week, and Easter. God is all about new beginnings. God is all about change. God is all about forgetting that which has passed and forging a new future. Not a new present. A new future.
 
Everything that God is all about is the new future for every single human being. Every human being, when he/she believes in the birth of God’s Son, Jesus, the Savior and Lord, it is a new beginning. When he/she believes in Jesus and His life-giving work of Holy Communion, the body and blood of Jesus broken and shed for the forgiveness of our sins. It is a new beginning. When he/she believes in the new life that Jesus gave by means of His resurrection, it is a new beginning. When he/she believes that Jesus went back to heaven with the promise of His return, it is a new beginning. And when he/she believes that Jesus will return in the future, either short term or long, to bring him/her to the Father forever, it is a new beginning.
 
How do we let go of the past? There are days and moments that it continues to pop up from our memories. Then the worst happens. Our thoughts and bodies fail us to the guilt and remorse of what we thought, did, didn’t do that we should have, and said what we should and shouldn’t have. How is that “cured?” It is “cured” by accepting the life of a sinful human being. Repent of your sins and confess them to God. And God, who is faithful and just, will forgive all our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. After that, then we forget, let go, commit the sin to the dust and rise to the new and future life God gave by means of Jesus.
 
The focus of Faith Lutheran Ministries, both congregation and school, is about the future. Forgetting what we left behind, we press on toward God’s glory and life. We celebrate our accomplishments, and we don’t rest on our laurels. We praise God from whom all blessings flow and we live in the tomorrow of grace and love.
 
See you in the future.
Pastor Robert