Perhaps, like me, on this first day of 2015, you are looking back at what happened during 2014… maybe thinking of those tasks that might have gone undone, the words we might have left unsaid, the disappointment of what did not come to pass. We cannot go backwards to change what we did or didn’t do… but the good news is that in the fulfillment of the Christmas miracle, we have been renewed by the birth of Christ once again to our world. As Christmas has passed, we are redeemed by this wonderful gift from God and have a new chance to start again… to let go of the old year and embrace what is to come. As 2015stretches before us now, there is an opportunity for transformation and restoration. We can hear anew the gospel and let it rekindle in us new things and new opportunities.
This is adapted from “Looking backward, looking forward,” written by Jennifer Michael, that was first published on the Women of the ELCA blog on December 30, 2013.