The lectionary doesn’t usually pay much attention to the secular calendar but you can’t help but think that the readings assigned for this day are particularly apt for New Year’s Eve. The epistle says, we know this is the last hour. The Gospel starts off: In the beginning was the Word. Endings and beginnings — an apt reflection for the turn of the year. My family has experienced this in a dramatic way this month with the birth of my great-niece, Stephanie’s daughter, and the death of my niece, Emily’s, husband at age 29. We know birth and death are part of the circle of life but particularly when a young man dies you can’t help but feel something is amiss. On New Year’s Eve we grieve our losses, all that this year took from us. But tomorrow let us look toward the future for the hand of God continues to mold and shape us anticipating a future of peace and love.
