God is the Alpha and the Omega,. the beginning and the end. He does not change. He is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, and we pray for His eternal blessing to be present with us as we begin a new year. For Him, a thousand years is but a moment, and 2025 is another beginning for us, but He knows the Day of Salvation and most certainly guides us to the end of time.
The new year brings change, no doubt about it. This January has seen obvious changes in my life and the life of our nation, and, I’m thinking in the world.
Think about what has occurred. Devasting fires in California still rage. Unprecedented cold has gripped our nation with snow where it hasn’t landed in years and bone-chilling cold. We saw an inauguration moved indoors, and we have seen a new President and Vice-President making sweeping changes so fast our heads are spinning.
And I have a sister in the hospital suffering from congestive heart failure. We don’t know yet what the near and far term consequences of that will be.
I’ve seen our granddaughter participate in All State chorus, and today and this weekend, she will show her prowess in All County Orchestra. Once again, our son will be the facilitator for the middle school level All County performance. We proud parents will enjoy seeing both our children facilitating the performance at the King Center on Saturday.
The news channels are beside themselves reporting the immense changes on the national and international stage as the new administration in Washington takes over the reins. Whatever our political persuasions are, and we see immense changes in the electorate this year, one thing is for sure. A lot of work, some of it in the planning stage for the weeks since the election, is resulting in sociological changes which will make our lives very different going forward.
It’s trite, I suppose, but there is a new sheriff in town, and things are changing quickly because of his challenge to Make America Great Again (MAGA). Most, it seems to me, is for the better, but we are in for challenges and nastiness which I wish were not the case. Everyone has an opinion, but opposition seems especially virulent, and delaying tactics will interrupt proceedings. It’s only been two days and already we see conflict and aggression. One thing is for sure, January is a new year, and there is much change on the horizon.
I’ve been reading the gospel of Matthew. If ever there was a change-agent, it was Jesus and His agenda for the world. We are fresh off the Baby in Bethlehem celebration and the stories of Peace on Earth, Good will to Men message. Jesus was and is a change agent. The religious leaders of His age were defiant. The government authorities were against His message from the very beginning. Herod even engineered the death of children under the age of two in order to kill the infant Jesus.
But the changes he brought were amazing. He healed the sick in mind and body. He raised the dead, to the amazement of those who spread the message far and wide. He taught His disciples new ways of living lives, and His message definitively changed the course of history and will show us all the end of the story when His reign over the earth will occur. He changed water into wine, calmed the storms, fed thousands with a few fish and morsels of bread, and spoke truth which established the church and calls us to worship the One True God and Father of us all.
Even the inauguration and oaths and our national coins, invocations, benedictions, hymns, and documents revere God’s importance.
This inauguration week reminds us of God’s place in the establishment of this Republic, and our recently installed President wisely understands that his life was spared by God’s almighty will and presence. May He rule with the wisdom of Solomon and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
May our nation pray for His success, admire his initiative, bless his health and vigor, and guide his decisions and actions. We are taught in scripture to pray for our leaders. The last four years, we often prayed for the person who held the office, but it was difficult to understand his policies could be God’s will and his actions could be blessed by the Almighty. Perhaps we were called to defy edicts declaring false gender doctrines and illegal activities supported by government policies. Perhaps we were called to pray against wars which have dominated the alst four years, and for sure we were called to pray against the rising prices because of mismanagement of resources and the results of a pandemic. Perhaps it was all to open the gates to the changes we will see this week in an administration which is two days old.
The church has prayed for guidance and I pray that, notwithstanding the National Prayer service televised yesterday, that pastors would rightly preach the gospel message and that political opinion would not be preached from our pulpits. Now, that would indeed be a welcome change.
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