Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.  I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? (Isaiah 43: 18&19)

We are on the cusp of the start of a new year, at least according to the calendar.  I really think the year ends when school gets out in the spring, then we enter into an in-between time before the new year begins on the first day of school in the fall.  For me, it is because the church year of ministries and programs closely follows the school year.  In any event, it is a random and arbirtrary day to pick when one thing ends and another begins.

It seems that the issue is not so much the date on the calendar, the time on the clock, or the ball in Times Square, but to our ability to perceive the “new thing.”  Is God really doing something new in our lives and our world, or is it just the same-old thing?  Am I really a new creation, or just the same old messed up person?  Do I see signs of peace, justice, mercy, forgiveness, and love in the world, or is it all greed, hate, violence, and evil? 

It seems to depend on our spiritual perception, rather than our physical and temporal perceptions, which is just a fancy-schmancy way of saying it depends on prayer and the spiritual practice called “discernment.”  All of which is about paying attention to what God is doing, which also includes learning and remembering what God has done and promises to do in the future.  For me, I am glad that the Church continues to celebrate Christmas into this arbitrary New Year, to remind me of what God has done, is doing, and will do through Jesus Christ.  For if I can perceive Christ at work in my own life and in the lives of those around me, I can also begin to perceive Christ at work in the world, bringing into being God’s Kingdom on earth.

May God bless you and give you the gift of discernment and the ability to perceive the “new things” of Christ this New Year!