God
Send Us a Happy New Year
Matthew
24:3-14
Today’s title is the refrain of the only New Year’s carol
I know. The tune Greensleeves has, as far as I know, three sets of words. The original words are a song of lost love
for the lady Greensleeves. Most of us
know the Christmas words, “What Child Is This.”
The third set of lyrics is the carol God
Send Us a Happy New Year.
Each year, right after Christmas Day, we begin wishing
everyone, “Happy New Year!” It’s a nice
sentiment, and a good wish, for all of us hope that the new year will be better
than the last one. That hope is what’s
behind the baby new year replacing the tired old man who represents the year
that’s ending. Even if the past year has
been one of our best we hope the new one will be an improvement. We’ll make more money or get a better
job. Our family situation will
improve. Our kids will behave better, or
win that college scholarship, or get the job that will make them financially
independent of us. We’ll get along with
our spouse better, or, if we’re single, we’ll finally meet the right one!
One of our greatest hopes, I suspect, is that our
political situation will improve. There
will be fewer places in the world with open hostilities. There will be fewer refugees cut off from
their homes. The political parties in
this country will finally remember they exist to help the people and not just
to win elections. Whatever we hope for,
it comes down to “God send us a happy new year.”
Every generation since Jesus Christ’s resurrection has
believed the end times were near. The
early disciples were sure Christ would return immediately, get rid of the
Romans, set everything right, and take them to the place he promised in John’s
gospel. The early Christians were so
convinced of this they worried that their loved ones who had died would miss
out. Paul had to reassure the
Thessalonians that when Christ returned those who had died would be taken up
first. They wouldn’t lose their heavenly
reward.
Down through the centuries people have bemoaned the state
of world affairs and become convinced that Jesus would return and put an end to
the suffering of God’s people. Didn’t he
tell his disciples that there would be wars, earthquakes and famines—not to
mention tornadoes and hurricanes, oppression and slavery, terrorism and torture? Surely things have gotten so bad, each
succeeding generation believed, that the end was imminent.
Yet the world continues.
There has never been peace. There
have always been earthquakes and famines.
Every year we have devastating weather conditions. Crime continues to be a problem because many
people do not respect the rule of law.
We pray for peace but peace doesn’t come. We pray for healing for loved ones but it
doesn’t happen. Is it any wonder we lose
hope? Is it any wonder we pray for an
end to trouble, to war, terrorism, torture, crime, disease, but feel deep in
our hearts that nothing will change, that conditions are so hopeless that the
end must be near?
So we pray, “God, send us a happy new year,” all the
while believing that the only way it can be happy is if it’s the last one the
world will ever see. The world’s
situation—the nation’s situation has become so terrible that only complete
destruction will change things for the better.
We must remember that God is working his purpose
out. God is taking all the strands of
our lives, all the strands of world events and weaving them into the tapestry
of the kingdom.
Let’s
make this new year happy by living into that promise, no matter how long it
takes to be fulfilled.
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