Last week we entered 2025. New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day celebrations are a part of our secular culture. Some (not me) stay up to welcome the new year and all the possibilities it may bring.
Although we can’t predict what may come, I pray it is a good year for you and our church family.
Although most of the world uses the Gregorian calendar (us included) and celebrate the new year on January 1st (thanks to Julius Ceasar) did you know new year celebrations predate our current calendar?
Our Jewish brothers and sisters have been celebrating Rosh Hashanah longer than western world!
Rosh Hashanah means “head of the year.” As early as the book of Numbers (from the Time of Moses) we hear the instruction from God to the people of Israel.
On the first day of the seventh month hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. It is a day for you to sound the trumpets. As an aroma pleasing to the Lord, prepare a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect. Numbers 29:1-2
Although there is no mention of it being “New Year’s Day” in the Bible, this is where the holiday finds its beginning. A day of noise! The sounding of trumpets! It is also a day of sacrifice to receive forgiveness from God.
The blowing of the shofar (ram’s horn) is a call to action! A call to wake up from a person’s spiritual slumber and be ready for God! Rosh Hashanah is a moment to look back on the year that has passed, to seek forgiveness for any wrongdoings, and to focus on how to better oneself in the year to come.
According to Jewish tradition, on this day, God sits in judgment over the world, reviewing each person’s deeds over the past year and determining their fate for the year ahead. That might cause some to fear but for most it is a day for joy.
This new year’s celebration begins 10 days of introspection that culminates on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). This is the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.
If you have read this far, you might be wondering why I am writing about the Jewish New Year? Because there are things we can learn from our Jewish brothers and sisters as we enter 2025.
As Christian’s we too can approach the new year as a time to reflect on the previous year and even let go of attitudes and behaviors that don’t correspond to our walk with Jesus.
We too can use the New Year to shake off the spiritual malaise and laziness of our lives and recommit ourselves to the purposes of Christ and His will!
This coming year (like every year) will be what we make of it as individuals, families and the church. If we depend upon others and positive events to make a year good, we will be disappointed. We are the ones who will make 2025 great!
Happy New Year and may God bless your lives, your mindsets and your actions!
Pr. Ben
