Happy Prayerful New Year

For Wilshire Baptist Church

Okay, I’ve broken one of the unwritten laws of blogging: I haven’t said anything about the new year. We’re 11 days into 2024 and I’ve not talked about resolutions. I’ve not talked about the year just ended and my hopes for the new year. I’ve not even written “Happy New Year.” So, I better fulfill my obligations.

First, regarding 2023: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Charles Dickens wrote that in the famous first line of “A Tale of Two Cities.” It would be a gross exaggeration for me to compare 2023 to the French Revolution, either personally or communally, but I look at the year past and there was plenty of best and worst.

On the worst side, for me anyway, was cancer and the extreme heat that wrecked landscapes including ours. Communally, there was incessant violence, racial unrest, political mayhem and continual decline of civility and trust.

On the best side, I got through the cancer treatment ordeal without losing any significant momentum on most of the things I like to do, including working at writing. Communally, we started the year at Wilshire with a wonderful new pastor and ended it with the selection of a wonderful new minister of music. 

Now, looking ahead: I just don’t know what to say because I don’t know what to expect. I could make forecasts and predictions, but I don’t like to look too far into the future. 

As for resolutions, I’m not keen on those either because they can be setups for failure. But considering the ups and downs of 2023, perhaps I should look to my star. At the end of worship last Sunday at Wilshire, we all were invited to take a large gold star from the basket, take it home, and consider the word printed on it. My star says “Pray.”

Pray. While that is not very original – and in fact about as churchy as you can get – I think it might help me with the whole resolution situation. Because while I can’t predict the future, I can pray about it. I can pray that:

  • I will be prepared for whatever comes and face it with calm and peace regardless.
  • I will be motivated by kindness and generosity rather than getting even, getting ahead or just plain getting.
  • I will trust and have faith in God’s plan not just for me but for this world.
  • I will look for the good in people and focus on what we have in common and not what sets us apart.
  • Good people of all backgrounds and persuasions will persevere and lead us out of this bitter, cynical, distrustful and distasteful time.
  • Friends and family facing health and financial challenges will be healed and will know brighter days.

And, borrowing from Dickens’ famous first sentence again, I’ll pray that 2024 will be “an age of wisdom . . . an epoch of belief . . . a season of light . . . and a spring of hope.”

So, there it is. Happy Prayerful New Year.