Christ Lutheran Church: Welcome

Alert Order - November 19, 2006

A Different New Years?

New Years

Matthew 6:14, 2 Peter 3:8-18

December 30, 2007

Rev. Dave R. Garwick

This is the New Year's week-end when Americans take stock of the year past and the year to come.  And THAT is a little bit of a problem:  our scope of time.  The big deal is to focus on the YEAR that has past and the YEAR that is to come.  That is so American and one of the things that makes it SO hard to be a biblical Christian for so many Americans.

Especially when compared to other cultures, we Americans have a very short attention span when it comes to time.

A recent survey, conducted by the Center for Survey Research and Analysis at the University of Connecticut found that only 23 percent of college seniors correctly identified James Madison as the "Father of the Constitution"; but 98 percent knew that Snoop Doggy Dog is a rapper and 99% were able to identify Bevis and Butt-Head.  Sixty-five percent of the students -- from such schools as Yale, Northwestern, Smith, and Bowdoin -- failed to "pass" the test and only one student answered all 34 questions correctly.

We think in terms of years or decades.  Europeans think in terms of centuries.  Orientals think in terms of millennia.  When he was Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger asked Zhou Enlai for his views on the French Revolution who replied, "It's too soon to tell."  In 5,000 years there have been 22 Chinese dynasties, 13 of these have endured as long or longer than the entire history of the United States.

Our notion of the future is likewise short-sighted.  In fact, this is how trained.  I remember when I was in high school and college being asked to come up with a FIVE year plan.

We are "here and now" people.  And THAT is a big problem for Christians who have been asked to keep our eye on the ball for more than four thousand years now...to trust things in a Bible that were written four thousand years ago...to trust promises that Jesus made over two thousand year ago...who spoke of the eternal effects of things we believe and the things we do...right now.

The "right now" part works well for us.  But talk about eternal things is another matter.  Quite frankly I increasingly suspect that long-distance time things like eternity just do not connect that much with most American Christians.  If we have trouble thinking beyond the span of a year, then how can we get into matters that seem so far off, that was spoken of by Jesus so long ago?

This is why the apostle Peter wrote in the Epistle Lesson this morning,"...do not forget this one thing, dear friends:  With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.  The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness.  He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."

In other words, the reason God is taking so long to return and bring us all back Home is that He is waiting for everyone to get on board who WANTS to get on board.  But my concern is that those of us who already ARE on board may be falling asleep while we are waiting.  That is why I think it would be wiser to use New Years not as an opportunity to review just the last year, but your faithfulness up to this point in your entire life; that New Year's would not be a time of looking forward to just the next year, but to the rest of your life.

That is why Peter continues, "Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position."  That is especially good advice tor tomorrow night when our American tradition calls for a party atmosphere of excess.

And this is also good advice for high school and college students who live in a world where you can pretty much do whatever you want to do and get away with it, at least for a while.  Please, please consider the long term effects and especially the eternal consequences of your choices.

What I am asking you to do is something very unusual for Americans:  to use New Years as an opportunity to take the LONG view of your place in time, way way beyond this next year...at least for most of us (if you catch my drift).  I am asking you to consider the eternal effects of every choice you make, not just the immediate consequences.

For example, when it comes to forgiveness, don't just do it because it will help your mental and physical health, not just because it will end the vicious cycle of payback, not just because it may save a relationship with someone.  Don't just do it for those reasons, because you may not truly feel that way at all.

Use New Years to take stock of the long term.  Forgive because of the effect it will have on your eternal life.  In the Lord's Prayer you just asked you Father who art in heaven to forgive you in the same way that you forgave others.  Then in the Nicene Creed you said that you believed that it will be Jesus who will return to judge the living and the dead.  Well, He is the One who already has advised us, "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their sins, you Father will not forgive you your sins," (Matthew 6:14)

On this New Year's weekend, DO take stock of your past and also your future.  But do not do it like the American you are.  Do it as the brother and sister of Jesus.  Take the long view.