According to the historic Christian liturgical calendar, today finds us still in the midst of the celebration of the feast of Christmas, but the secular and cultural calendars of modern life have already left Christmas far behind and today we are celebrating the birth of a brand new year. In an attempt to bridge the chasm between the two, let me offer for you this profound reflection that unites Christmas and the New Year.

‘Twas the month after Christmas, and all through the house,
Nothing would fit me, not even a blouse.
The cookies I’d nibbled, the eggnog I’d taste,
At the holiday parties had gone to my waist.
When I got on the scales there arose such a number!
When I walked to the store (less a walk than a lumber),
I’d remember the marvelous meals I’d prepared,
The gravies and sauces and beef nicely rared,
The wine and the rum balls, the bread and the cheese,
And the way I’d never said, “No thank you, please.”
As I dressed myself in my husband’s old shirt,
And prepared once again to do battle with dirt,
I said to myself, as I only can,
“You can’t spend a winter disguised as a man!”
So away with the last of the sour cream dip,
Get rid of the fruitcake, every cracker and chip.
Every last bit of food that I like must be banished,
‘Til all the additional ounces have vanished.
I won’t have a cookie—not even a lick,
I’ll want only to chew on a long celery stick.
I won’t have hot biscuits, or corn bread, or pie,
I’ll munch on a carrot and quietly cry.
I’m hungry, I’m lonesome, and life is a bore,
But isn’t that what January is for?
Unable to giggle, no longer a riot,
Happy New Year to all and to all a good diet!ⁱ

We all can relate to the distressed author of this little poem, can we not? Even if the battle of the bulging waistline is not your particular problem, there is something of a letdown after Christmas, and as we move into a new year it is all too easy to focus on the cold weather, the overdue bills, the cold and flu season, or any of a host of other ills that beset us at this time of year. It seems that every New Year brings with it a new crop of concerns, worries, and fears. It’s hard to believe, but it is now six years ago that we all worried that civilization itself would come to an end when all the computers stopped working because of the Y2K Bug and the dawn of the new millennium. And so we are tempted to adopt this New Year’s resolution that I heard the other day: “I resolve not to suffer in silence while I can still moan, whimper, and complain.” Or perhaps this one better fits your mood: “I will no longer waste my time reliving the past; I will spend it worrying about the future.”ⁱⁱ

I have good news for us today: We need not approach the beginning of a new year with pessimism, boredom, or fear. There is another attitude we can adopt, another approach we can apply as we begin this cycle of 365 days. To find it, we will return today to the work we began together last September as we continue our reading of Paul’s great letter to the Christians in Ephesus. You will remember that Paul has emphasized from the beginning that we who know God through Jesus Christ are blessed with every spiritual blessing from heaven, that we are included in God’s amazing plan to bring all of creation and all of history to its appointed fulfillment, that we are continually moving toward joy and peace. Paul has begun to discuss how God makes this possible through the gift of his Son, Jesus, the gift that we celebrated seven days ago at Christmas. Paul has begun to share how you and I welcome and incorporate Jesus into our lives so that we actually begin to experience the blessings God has in store for us.

In today’s passage, Paul asserts that each and every believer has received not just the gift of God’s Son, but with it the gift of grace and all of the benefits that flow from grace. This grace is of the same type and same strength and same effect as that grace which Jesus displayed in his own life, and so it is amazingly powerful stuff. Christ’s grace working in us produces a unity of spirit and purpose within the body of believers, but it does not make each believer exactly alike. To the contrary, Christ through his grace gives unique and individual gifts to each believer. We are unified in Christ but not uniform in our expression of Christ through who and what we are. Paul mentions here a few specific ways in which the grace of Christ works in us, making it possible for some of us to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, or teachers. All of these gifts are meant to be used for the good of the whole church, as people use their gifts of leadership, of reminding us of the truth of God, of welcoming others into the faith, of caring for each other, and of teaching others about Christ. There are many other gifts that come from Christ and Paul does not mention all of them here. Those he does mention are the ones that serve particularly to help people discover the joy of following Jesus.

It is that joy upon which I particularly want us to focus our thoughts today. There are many ways by which you and I can understand ourselves and the fundamental dynamics of our lives. Do you see yourself as an overweight person who needs to shed pounds gained over the holidays? Do you see yourself as an old person who is getting ready to die? Do you see yourself as a young person who is still trying to figure life out? Do you see yourself as a stressed person who cannot manage to keep all the balls in the air at the same time? Do you see yourself as a depressed person who cannot find a way to be happy in life? Do you see yourself as an angry person who cannot get over the pain of past hurts? Do you see yourself as a driven person who must always make the world fit your own personal mold? I would propose to you that there is only one way for people who follow Christ to see themselves, and it is only as we learn this way that we can overcome and understand and manage all the other dynamics that push and pull at us from every direction.

Paul says that you and I “must grow up in every way…into Christ.” That is who we are: people who are growing up into Christ. We are people who are growing into the image of our Lord and Savior, people who are learning to live by the very power of heaven in everything we say, everything we think, everything we feel, everything we do, everything we are. We are people who are moving every moment, every day, every year into a deeper and deeper relationship with our heavenly Father, and with that relationship we experience more peace, more power, more joy. The direction and thrust of our lives is all good, all positive, all happy, as we follow Jesus.

When I look forward to this coming year, I see much work that needs to be done, many challenges that need to be met, many opportunities that cannot be missed. And I can choose to be afraid and pessimistic, or confident and optimistic. As a Christian, I have only one choice, really, and that is to trust God for the blessings that he has promised. As I look forward to this coming year for all of us together as a church, I see the joy of celebrating our history of fifty years as a church. I see the joy of uniting together and pooling our considerable resources of energy and talent and wealth to begin an expansion of our church campus that will serve this church for the next fifty years of its life. Most importantly, I see the joy of further developing our ministries and our own personal discipleship to the end that we who are part of this church come to know Jesus in a deeper way, and to the end that people who are not yet part of this church will find their way here and join us in the adventure of following Jesus.

Late at night, when I’m flipping channels trying to find something on television to watch, I inevitably come across a host of infomercials and advertisements that all promise to help me become wealthy through this investment strategy or that business opportunity. They all use the same phrase, and it’s one you’ve heard a million times: “unlimited growth potential.” What a positive, powerful, promising phrase that is! It’s a great phrase, but it only begins to mean much when it is used to describe financial or physical or mental growth. I think it’s a phrase that Paul would have used had he been blessed with the joy of watching television, and he would have used it in this passage from Ephesians. He would have said, “Friends in Christ, you and I have unlimited growth potential when it comes to discovering the good life as we follow Jesus.” Paul is not here anymore to say that to you, so I’ll say it today and I’ll hope it becomes our theme for a truly wonderful year in your life and in the life of this church: “Friends in Christ, you and I have unlimited growth potential because we follow the Lord and Master of the Universe, Jesus Christ.” Happy New Year!

Amen.

ⁱ From the HumorMatters website, December 31, 2005.
ⁱⁱIbid.

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