Here we are! The year Two Thousand and Twenty-Six has arrived and with it, its
hopes and dreams and challenges. When we page through the new Moravian
textbook, filled with the promises of God’s future for us, the promise of newness
jumps from the page. The watchword for the Year is taken from the Book of
Revelation Chapter Twenty-One Verse Five: “Look, I am making everything new!”
The motto for this year speaks op newness. The big announcements of newness,
like the change of the year, make us look past all the small announcements of
newness that happen every minute of every day: the new breath, the little cell that
renews, the new microsecond … We live in God’s eternal creation of the new. This is
God’s plan for us, he cares so much that he gives us daily, thousands of
opportunities to embrace newness: new hope, new joy, new plans.
As we approach this new year, we can be assured of God’s benevolence and his
commitment to us. He will give us the power and vision to embrace what he is gifting
us. His plans and purposes for us are revealed through his love. Our doctrinal verse
for today is taken from the First Epistle of John, Chapter Four Verse Nine: God’s love
was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we
might live through him. On Christmas Day we stared into the manger with the angels,
shepherds, Mary and Joseph, and we saw God’s gift to the World, Jesus Christ our
Saviour. He is the one who is with us, unchangeable in his mission, to come to us
and save us. We read in the watchword for the month of January: Jesus Christ is the
same yesterday and today and forever, written in the Thirteenth Chapter Verse Eight
of the Epistle to the Hebrews. This is our hope and joy. Every year as we look and
see the Christ Child, we are given sight, renewed sight and insight. We are not left
alone, to handle the pain, sorrow and disgrace of the past years alone. We are called
to look with new eyes and hear with new ears the message of the angels and
shepherds: Christ is born for us!
The watchword for today is taken from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. We read in
Chapter Twenty-Five Verse Eight that “He (meaning Jesus) will remove his people’s
disgrace from all the earth.” Disgrace means to fall in a state of being afforded no
mercy. The world disgraces humans and repeatedly returns to the events in their
history where they have made mistakes. God comes and says that we are not
deserving of grace through our own merits, for it will be discounted and mocked by
the world. However, we are deserving of his grace through what his Son has done
for us. We will not be ashamed as we cling to the promises of God, despite what
happens in this world and around us. His promises stand firm and will not change.
This is our hope for the new year, that we will be renewed to continue to live in the
newness of God’s love. God’s purpose is to bring restoration of this world and her
people. Let us look with renewed hope to our God. The one who loved us first, the
one who created us, the one who gives us new life.
Father, we thank you for your promise of making all things new. We look forward to
seeing you working in us and in your world in this New Year. Amen.