Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
A blessed new year to all of you! As we rip off the last page of our 2014 calendar and hang a fresh, crisp 2015 one, we hear many people encourage us to “ring in the new year.” Others will ask us to make New Year’s resolutions to shed a few more pounds and run a few more miles.
A blessed new year to all of you! As we rip off the last page of our 2014 calendar and hang a fresh, crisp 2015 one, we hear many people encourage us to “ring in the new year.” Others will ask us to make New Year’s resolutions to shed a few more pounds and run a few more miles.
As the people of God we enter the New Year “in the Lord.” After all, this is the truth that is conveyed in the acronym “AD.” It is the abbreviation of the Latin phrase anno Domini, meaning “in the year of the Lord.” So while the world asks us to make the New Year memorable, relevant, and significant by our actions and resolutions, God asks us to greet the changing year by remaining in him.
This leads us to an important question. How do we remain in the Lord as we flip the pages on the calendar from month to month, year to year? To be sure, we remain in the Lord by remaining in Christ. We remain in the Lord by living as the baptized children of God and continually receiving his grace in Word and Sacrament in our weekly worship. We remain in the Lord in prayer. We remain in the Lord in devotions upon God’s Word through resources like Portals of Prayer. We remain in the Lord by studying his Word in Bible Study such as the different Bible Studies that we offer here at Atonement. These are ways that we live as “AD” people this calendar year and hereafter.
Let the words of the following hymn from Lutheran Service Book also lead us into the New Year “in the Lord”:
LSB #896 Now Greet the Swiftly Changing Year
Now greet the swiftly changing year
With joy and penitence sincere.
Rejoice! Rejoice! With thanks embrace
Another year of grace.
Remember now the Son of God
And how He shed His infant blood.
Rejoice! Rejoice! With thanks embrace
Another year of grace.
This Jesus came to end sin’s war;
This Name of names for us He bore.
Rejoice! Rejoice! With thanks embrace
Another year of grace.
His love abundant far exceeds
The volume of a whole year’s needs.
Rejoice! Rejoice! With thanks embrace
Another year of grace.
With Him as Lord to lead our way
In want and in prosperity,
What need we fear in earth or space
In this new year of grace!
“All glory be to God on high,
And peace on earth!” the angels cry.
Rejoice! Rejoice! With thanks embrace
Another year of grace.
God, Father, Son, and Spirit, hear!
To all our pleas incline Your ear;
Upon our lives rich blessing trace
In this new year of grace.
In Christ,
Pastor Josh
This leads us to an important question. How do we remain in the Lord as we flip the pages on the calendar from month to month, year to year? To be sure, we remain in the Lord by remaining in Christ. We remain in the Lord by living as the baptized children of God and continually receiving his grace in Word and Sacrament in our weekly worship. We remain in the Lord in prayer. We remain in the Lord in devotions upon God’s Word through resources like Portals of Prayer. We remain in the Lord by studying his Word in Bible Study such as the different Bible Studies that we offer here at Atonement. These are ways that we live as “AD” people this calendar year and hereafter.
Let the words of the following hymn from Lutheran Service Book also lead us into the New Year “in the Lord”:
LSB #896 Now Greet the Swiftly Changing Year
Now greet the swiftly changing year
With joy and penitence sincere.
Rejoice! Rejoice! With thanks embrace
Another year of grace.
Remember now the Son of God
And how He shed His infant blood.
Rejoice! Rejoice! With thanks embrace
Another year of grace.
This Jesus came to end sin’s war;
This Name of names for us He bore.
Rejoice! Rejoice! With thanks embrace
Another year of grace.
His love abundant far exceeds
The volume of a whole year’s needs.
Rejoice! Rejoice! With thanks embrace
Another year of grace.
With Him as Lord to lead our way
In want and in prosperity,
What need we fear in earth or space
In this new year of grace!
“All glory be to God on high,
And peace on earth!” the angels cry.
Rejoice! Rejoice! With thanks embrace
Another year of grace.
God, Father, Son, and Spirit, hear!
To all our pleas incline Your ear;
Upon our lives rich blessing trace
In this new year of grace.
In Christ,
Pastor Josh
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