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Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
Growing up on a farm in Saskatchewan, Canada, I was introduced to the idea of "summerfallowing." The word, I discovered, has even made it into an online "Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan" (http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/summerfallow.html). To "summerfallow" a field meant to let it lie unseeded for a growing season. The land was tilled to aerate the soil, but nothing was planted. In drier areas of the province, fields were summerfallowed every other year, helping the soil to retain moisture, while also releasing nutrients from organic matter in the soil, reducing the need for fertilizer. While this practice has been reduced with the creation of better fertilizers as well as more recent concerns about long term soil erosion, it is still practiced to a smaller degree. For those who do practice it, they do so knowing they are going to sacrifice any income from that field that year, hoping for a better crop in the next.
New years signify new beginnings. Perhaps the year that just ended was a tough one. Perhaps there were hardships physically, financially, or spiritually. Perhaps it's good to remember, as this passage reminds us, there are times for everything, even a time for "summerfallowing."
Craig K.
Revelation 21:1-6a
Joan Osborne's 1995 pop single "One of Us" asks questions that we don't want to know the answers to. "What if God was one of us?" "If God had a face, what would it look like? And would you want to see if seeing meant you have to believe?" The music video for the song shows a "face-in-the-hole" booth at a carnival. The cutout shows a flowing white beard and robe, like the depiction of Father Time at New Year's. In the course of the video, one person after another poses with their face in the cutout: children, adults, men, women, black, white, pierced, well-made-up. What if God was one of us? What if his home really was among mortals? "What if God was one of us/ just a stranger on the bus/ trying to make his way home?"
Leah T.
Revelation 21:1-6a
Steve Martin, reflecting on his recently published autobiography, Born Standing Up, said in actuality the book is a biography "because I am writing about someone I used to know." The religious message that always seems forefront at the beginning of each new year is, especially in the light of resolutions reverently made and humanly discarded, is there going to be some great transformation in our lives. We are going to be so much more loving, giving, forgiving, thinner, richer, educated, studious... that by year's end, except by answering to the same name, we will have an unrecognizable demeanor.
Though we do have lofty goals that reflect unrealistic expectations, it is still possible to change, grow, mature, and improve upon ourselves. This is the theological doctrine of sanctification, which, by definition is the process of becoming sanctified. To be in the process of sanctification acknowledges that during the coming year I will become a better Christian, not a perfect Christian, but better on December 31 than I was on this first day of the new year.
So when John the Seer said, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth," his reference may be more than just to the end times. It could also be a little more practical that by year's end people will see in me, they will see in you, a new heaven for we have all matured in our faith during the 365 days before us. And we shall accomplish this through private meditation and involvement in the spiritual growth ministries provided by the church.
Ron L.
Matthew 25:31-46
You can learn a lot about someone by their priorities. For instance, if a house was burning down, what someone would save would say a lot about them, like if they decided to save the file cabinet with the financial records rather than the family photo album. Our first priorities get the most energy and effort from us. If money is our priority, we'll stay at work all weekend and skip the son's baseball game. If family is important, we'll go to the game and leave the work project until Monday.
In the parable, when God judges the sheep and the goats, he judges them for their priorities. Did they make the poor and hungry and naked their priority, or did they make themselves their priority? Did they help the least of these or did they look after number one? Perhaps this new year is a good chance for all of us to reexamine our priorities and make sure they are aligned with what Jesus thought was important.
Craig K.
Growing up on a farm in Saskatchewan, Canada, I was introduced to the idea of "summerfallowing." The word, I discovered, has even made it into an online "Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan" (http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/summerfallow.html). To "summerfallow" a field meant to let it lie unseeded for a growing season. The land was tilled to aerate the soil, but nothing was planted. In drier areas of the province, fields were summerfallowed every other year, helping the soil to retain moisture, while also releasing nutrients from organic matter in the soil, reducing the need for fertilizer. While this practice has been reduced with the creation of better fertilizers as well as more recent concerns about long term soil erosion, it is still practiced to a smaller degree. For those who do practice it, they do so knowing they are going to sacrifice any income from that field that year, hoping for a better crop in the next.
New years signify new beginnings. Perhaps the year that just ended was a tough one. Perhaps there were hardships physically, financially, or spiritually. Perhaps it's good to remember, as this passage reminds us, there are times for everything, even a time for "summerfallowing."
Craig K.
Revelation 21:1-6a
Joan Osborne's 1995 pop single "One of Us" asks questions that we don't want to know the answers to. "What if God was one of us?" "If God had a face, what would it look like? And would you want to see if seeing meant you have to believe?" The music video for the song shows a "face-in-the-hole" booth at a carnival. The cutout shows a flowing white beard and robe, like the depiction of Father Time at New Year's. In the course of the video, one person after another poses with their face in the cutout: children, adults, men, women, black, white, pierced, well-made-up. What if God was one of us? What if his home really was among mortals? "What if God was one of us/ just a stranger on the bus/ trying to make his way home?"
Leah T.
Revelation 21:1-6a
Steve Martin, reflecting on his recently published autobiography, Born Standing Up, said in actuality the book is a biography "because I am writing about someone I used to know." The religious message that always seems forefront at the beginning of each new year is, especially in the light of resolutions reverently made and humanly discarded, is there going to be some great transformation in our lives. We are going to be so much more loving, giving, forgiving, thinner, richer, educated, studious... that by year's end, except by answering to the same name, we will have an unrecognizable demeanor.
Though we do have lofty goals that reflect unrealistic expectations, it is still possible to change, grow, mature, and improve upon ourselves. This is the theological doctrine of sanctification, which, by definition is the process of becoming sanctified. To be in the process of sanctification acknowledges that during the coming year I will become a better Christian, not a perfect Christian, but better on December 31 than I was on this first day of the new year.
So when John the Seer said, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth," his reference may be more than just to the end times. It could also be a little more practical that by year's end people will see in me, they will see in you, a new heaven for we have all matured in our faith during the 365 days before us. And we shall accomplish this through private meditation and involvement in the spiritual growth ministries provided by the church.
Ron L.
Matthew 25:31-46
You can learn a lot about someone by their priorities. For instance, if a house was burning down, what someone would save would say a lot about them, like if they decided to save the file cabinet with the financial records rather than the family photo album. Our first priorities get the most energy and effort from us. If money is our priority, we'll stay at work all weekend and skip the son's baseball game. If family is important, we'll go to the game and leave the work project until Monday.
In the parable, when God judges the sheep and the goats, he judges them for their priorities. Did they make the poor and hungry and naked their priority, or did they make themselves their priority? Did they help the least of these or did they look after number one? Perhaps this new year is a good chance for all of us to reexamine our priorities and make sure they are aligned with what Jesus thought was important.
Craig K.
