Lectionary for New Year.
Praise God from the heavens, and in the heights! Young men and women alike, old and young together – let them praise the name of God! Psalm 148:1, 12-13
Collect. Let us pray (for peace in our families): Father, help us to live as the holy family, united in respect and love. Bring us to the joy and peace of your eternal home. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Reading. Ecclesiastes 3:1-13. We most often hear this reading at funeral services when the emphasis seems to revolve around the fact that death and dying are simply natural events in a person’s life. That is certainly true, however, when viewed like that the reading takes on a fatalistic tone; life is just being played out until it ends. Thankfully that is only one way of approaching today’s reading: perhaps a better and truer way is to consider the verses at the end of the reading which say, “ I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil”. (Verses 12&13). When we take stock of what those verses are saying then the reading reminds us of the rich variety life presents to us. Life is more than the joy of birth and the pain of loss through death. There are times of reaping and harvesting; of building and replacing. Through life there will be seasons of joy and high expectations, as well as seasons of sadness and struggle. In the changing moods of life, character and strength can be built and dare we suggest even wisdom! Life unfolds in amazing ways and while it is easy to remember only the tough times we also need to keep in mind the times of wonder and joy. In life we experience love and relationships and though there are times of weeping there are also times of laughter and enjoyment. Furthermore the passage is reminding us that all these things are a gift from God for all things are in God’s hands. “Although heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the LORD your God, the earth with all that is in it, yet the LORD set his heart in love on your ancestors alone and chose you, their descendants after them, out of all the peoples, as it is today.” (Deuteronomy 10:14–15.NRSV)
As we read this passage from a Christian perspective we remember that God loved the world so much that he sent his Son. (John 3:16) In that loving gift we see God’s nature revealed and remind ourselves that God’s gift of life is a rich and wonderful experience. We stand on the threshold of a New Year, we cannot leave the old behind for some things will remain in place but what the future will bring is unknown. Nonetheless, when in all the changing scenes of life we place our trust in him we can face each new experience with confidence.
Prayer. Holy Lord, you are the Great Creator and all that is comes into being by your word of command. In your good time, through you all things are made new. As we look forward to the beginning of another year, strengthen us to face with courage what this new time may bring; continue to guide us Holy Lord by your eternal presence, and give us strength to keep our faith and trust in you in the days that lie ahead. Help us to be faithful and true to those whom we love and who love us; Trusting in you, may we be loyal to our friends, so that they may never feel distressed or let down by our actions; May we show the acceptance of Christ to all, not mindful of differences but remembering that we are all children for whom Christ died. Help us always to remember that we live in your world. Grant that our lives may be worthy of Jesus Christ your Son. We offer this prayer in the Name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to whom be all honour, glory and praise now and for ever. Amen
Reading. Matthew 25:31-46. In this period between the excitement of Christmas and before the New Year has begun it is not unusual to feel a little jaded. Tradition has it that now is the time to make New Year’s resolutions as a platform from which to begin the year that lies ahead. Possibly that is why most resolutions major on giving up negative things and pursuing more positive things: Thus eating less chocolate and instead eating more vegetables! Experience tells us that it is easy to make resolutions but much more difficult to see then through to fulfilment. Now as we read today’s passage from Matthew perhaps we might be prompted to pay a little more attention to not simply how we keep our resolutions but how we live out our daily life.
We most often read the New Testament looking at Jesus as The Saviour and undoubtably this is his action on our behalf. Perhaps we should also pay attention to the role that is even more prominent and that is the description that Jesus Christ is Lord. As the Lord, Jesus rules but as our passage today reminds us he also brings judgement. This is not an aspect of his work that is highlighted much in our thinking or our worship and yet here is one of the most dramatic descriptions that we have of the end time and it centres on judgement.
Often our thoughts are drawn to the things we have done which are contrary to God’s will and way: however this passage describes judgement resulting from the good things that have been left undone. There is a sentence in the prayer of confession for Morning Prayer set down in the Book of Common Prayer that says; “We have left undone those things that we ought to have done”. This seems to be the underlying principle in the final parable in chapter 25. Those who face the most severe judgement are those who have left undone the normal acts of human kindness and compassion.
All this of course does not mean that we should be careless about keeping God’s will yet when we fail we have the assurance that Jesus did come in order to establish righteousness in the unrighteous.(Matthew 9:12) The parable reminds us that having been made righteous by the salvation of Jesus then our lives are to be lived in a righteous way. Righteousness is not looking down on those who are unrighteous, only God can judge so who would know; righteousness is living out the care and kindness which allows human lives to thrive. The things named in the parable are not those things which are hard to accomplish but the simple things like feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, and loving the unloved. In other words it is about being faithful to the call and command of Christ, and that is to love one another.
While this is a universal message, to be true to the context of the passage it is most certainly a message for how believers should treat each other because as the command to love and care for “one another’ is made Jesus also adds the emphasis. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:33-35) With this in mind the judgment described in the parable is also about how we as the people of God witness to the to the world and we show this by how we love, one another. To put it another way as the People of God are we a tattered remnant or a spotless bride?
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Revelation 21:1–2.
Prayer. Holy and Righteous God we call you Lord but often fail to obey you, thinking that we can get by because of your forgiving grace. Yet it is you who commands the whole of the universe and each of us believes that when time is no more, every knee will bow to you alone. So today we pray for your forgiveness and ask that we be given the power and courage to speak out and step out for you, that you may be obeyed and honoured by all your people. Grant that as we approach this New Year we may work and pray for a world united in peace, that wars may cease and that people everywhere will be able to live without fear. May your way be known across our nation and our world and under your guiding grace truth and justice be equally available to all. This we pray in your Holy Name. Amen
Collect. O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored the dignity of human nature: grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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