Submitted by Pastor Donna Clark Fuller,

Rock Port and Watson United Methodist Churches

“I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” Isaiah 43:19

New Year’s Day follows closely after Christmas. Just as we finish Christmas celebrations with friends and family we turn our thoughts to New Year’s Eve parties, making resolutions, thinking about how the coming year might be better than last year.

Unfortunately, we go into the new year with many of the same problems we had in the prior year. Personal situations that are difficult in our lives don’t just immediately get better. Many people start diets in the new year only to fall into old habits again soon. Bigger problems like people who have been affected by flooding in our area still have difficult problems to deal with relating to that flooding that are not easy to solve. Our world has seen an increase in divisiveness leading in many cases to hatred and violence against those who are different from us and it is not going to end with the end of the old year.

The good news is that God who created us is always working to create a new and better world. But God invites us to participate in that new creation. The first thing we need to do is perceive what God is doing. Then we need to commit to being part of God’s plan. We need to commit to making real, lasting changes in our lives and in our world. We need to ask for God’s help and accept God’s help in making those changes.

It is not simple coincidence that New Year’s Day follows so closely to Christmas, for Jesus brought a new thing to the world. In the end, after all of his days of teaching here on this earth, he gave us this simple, new idea:

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” John 13:34

How many of our problems and the world’s problems could be solved with this new idea? So if you are going to make resolutions for the New Year, I invite you to start with this one – to love as Jesus loves us.