“New Year, New Direction: Boldness and Confidence”
January 1, 2023
Dear brothers and sisters, grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.
Happy New Year once again, and may God bless each and every one of you as we celebrate this New Year’s Day by gathering together to worship and praise Him! As many of you know, I was unfortunately unable to fly out to Washington state to visit my son this past week as planned, due to the weather all over the country causing flights to be cancelled left and right. On the other hand, this also meant I was able to be with a few of you and your family members during various sudden crises and events that came up, for which I thank God for the opportunity and privilege for being able to serve you through those times. Even though my plans definitely took a different direction than I had intended, God still led events to fulfill what He knew would be best for everyone at this time. I do hope to be able to reschedule the visit to fly out to see my son sometime soon, but I am also trusting that God will show when that time is. I am, as I hope we all are for this coming year, trusting God’s direction.
This new year is probably going to take us in different directions we never would have thought of, but which, if we continue to trust God’s leading, will be according to His direction. In some ways, the past year, indeed, the past few years, caused us to be thrown off the direction we thought we were going. The covid pandemic took place in 2020, changing a lot of things; in 2021 we were still dealing with the fear of covid, while at the same time adjusting to certain political and economic changes and realities; and in 2022, many of the realities brought on by covid, war overseas, and economic problems here in this country started either to show themselves as being permanent or began some sort of slow course correction, and we became used to fear, anger, frustration, and sadness. Indeed, as someone pointed out to me recently, it seems like we’ve had a lot of sad news recently. It’s almost as if back in 2020, covid put us, and our world, into darkness, which we had to stumble around in without knowing exactly what direction we were going or where, or if, it would ever end. Much as we hear about in today’s First Reading from Isaiah: we can say that darkness has been covering our earth for the past few years. But God, speaking through Isaiah, gives us some good news, and a promise: the darkness is ending, and light is breaking upon us. God is coming to take charge of everything again. As verse 2 promises us, “See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you.” As I mentioned during my last sermon of the year last month, there is light at the end of the dark tunnel we’ve had to travel through. God is causing things to turn around and change for the better. So it’s time for a new direction for us: we’ve been wandering around in fear and anxiety for far too long, and trying to navigate through it by reacting to all the sad news we hear. So now is an opportunity, right at the beginning of this new year, to let God correct our course: to ask, as Mike Bradley, the Service Coordinator for LCMC did during the last Annual Gathering, “What can God do?” And to look forward with hope, joy, and optimism to what He can do. Right now is an opportunity for an attitude adjustment: we can continue to lament about how things were changed by covid, and things continue to seem to decline from how they once were: or, we can recognize that God is presenting us, in this new era, with new possibilities for new ways to reach each other and our community; new activities; new vision; renewed purpose; renewed worship; and the ability to believe in ourselves again, because God believes in us. It is also time for us to believe that nothing is impossible, and God can accomplish anything. After all, today is the day on which we remember God’s greatest accomplishment: sending His Son to be born as a human being, who made God accessible and approachable to us, and who we can come to at any time, anywhere, in any situation. Most of all, because, as Paul reminds us in our Second Reading from Ephesians, Jesus has made God approachable for us, we can have boldness and confidence – but not in ourselves. Instead, our boldness and confidence comes from believing and trusting in God. We ultimately rely not on our own wisdom or abilities, but on God’s direction. So, in this coming year, even though there we will continue to face challenges, we can go through them with boldness and confidence, because we depend on God and God alone. Even if we think we can’t, God can.
At the same time, we also have to keep recognizing that our church family is made up of individuals: we are each at different ages and stages, live a variety of lives, and are on different paths as we navigate through life. Even so, as Christians, we are still, by God’s leading, headed in the same direction: to Jesus. The shepherds and the Magi didn’t follow the same path to Jesus, but their journeys ultimately brought them to Jesus. Although many of us, and many other people, are on different paths to God, there is still ultimately only one true God – the God who has revealed Himself in Jesus, and only through Jesus can we really know and believe in the one true God. There may be many paths to God, but there is only one way to be saved – by Jesus. This is also why it is important for us, each day, or as often as possible, to take time out to be with God in prayer and Bible-reading, to be able to listen to Him and keep focused on the ultimate direction He is leading us to be with Him. All that being said, it is important for us to respect the fact that, in this coming year, each of us will be on a different path from us, and our journeys will take us in many various directions. We are also to respect each other’s unique individuality, just as we value who we are; for, if we cannot be ourselves, we cannot be who God wants us to be. We are still, in one way or another, though, on this journey called life together, which means we can look out for each other. Some of us may still be wandering around in darkness, which means that still some of us may be able to be the light which helps guide out and on to the right track.
In addition to today being Epiphany Sunday, today is also the celebration of the name of Jesus, the most powerful and glorious name of all. The name of Jesus itself has divine power, and whenever we ask anything to be done in the name of Jesus, we can believe it will be done. The name of Jesus also has the power to dispel any darkness of doubt or anxiety, because Jesus Himself causes to happen what He wants to happen. Jesus has promised to be with us for all time, even to the end of time – He will never leave us alone, nor will He force us to face any upcoming situations on our own. No matter what this year may bring, we can have boldness and confidence to be able to trust Jesus to protect and lead us through everything that happens. Which means:
We can lay ourselves in the hands of Jesus. In fact, this can be our default for everything that comes up: putting ourselves in Jesus’ hands. In fact, I invite and encourage all of you, whenever there is something you need to deal with, to take your hands like this (raise palms up) and lift whatever it is up to Jesus. Also, as you lift your hands, spread your fingers apart, as a way of letting go of whatever it is you are holding on to. As you are comfortable with doing so, I’d like you to try doing this right now: put your hands out in front of you. Now think of something you’ve been having to struggle with this past week, that you’re carrying with you into church today. Now, while praying silently, lift it up to Jesus and ask Him to take it from you. Spread your fingers apart, and say, to yourself, “I’m letting go of it, and I’m giving it to Jesus.”
While you’re doing that, also think about this: as we begin this new year, there are some things for us to leave behind: all of the worries, stresses, and troubles of this past year can also be laid in the hands of Jesus. Right now is also a good time for us to leave behind fear, skepticism, and frustration, and everything else which has held us back from following God’s lead. We can replace it instead with peace, security, and calm. So I’d invite you to put your hands out in front of you again, and, think of something that’s been making you afraid or frustrated, and lift it up to Jesus, spreading your fingers apart to let go of it, and then adding something else: breathing deeply, to let go of the burdens your body has been carrying from having to fight it. You’ve been dealing with too much for far too long – now it’s time to let go and let Jesus take care of it Himself.
We will have another opportunity to give up whatever we need to to Jesus: Communion. As we take Communion together in just a few minutes, Jesus will be really and truly present with us, both in spirit and in the bread and wine, which are His body and blood. The power which comes from His body and blood will also strengthen our faith to trust and believe in Him, to give everything we need to into His hands. But Communion isn’t just something we’re doing together: it’s something for you to take personally. It’s a time for you to remember that He died and rose again for you, because He loves you. He wants to help you. As you lift your hands to receive the bread, give up at least one more thing to Jesus to take control of. And be bold and confident, because Jesus is here for you.
Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
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