Bro Rod Morgan
Every year on December 31, we all stand on a threshold of sorts. Before us looms the door of possibility symbolized by the beginning of a new year. We all know how hard it is to make the most of the hope and promise held out to us by the prospect of a fresh start. New Year’s resolutions are notoriously difficult to keep and lasting change in a new year is just as difficult to achieve.
When we open the doors of a new year and step across the threshold we make choices and live with them. Some choices will work out for us and others will not. We will make mistakes. Yet the hope that we will make at least some right choices is what spurs us on.
In the second chapter of his Gospel, Matthew tells the story of a visit by the Magi to the newborn Jesus and his family. Unfortunately the Magi unintentionally alert the jealous King Herod in their search for the child who is to become king of the Jews. Herod plots to rid himself of any threat to his power by ordering male children under the age of two living in Bethlehem to be put to death.
This is a story of choices. Joseph must have been terrified at the options before him. Faced with the choice of staying where it was comfortable and familiar or leaving for a strange land and an alien people, he chose the latter, based on the divinely relayed word of warning he had received. The Magi had to decide whether to return by the same road or take another. In a story of two kings, we are obligated to choose to whom we will give our loyalty: Herod or Jesus.
In the year ahead, we have choices of life and faith. To whom or what we will we turn for guidance, motivation and inspiration? From whom will we seek the help we need to make the best choices?
It is time to carefully consider the choices before us. It is time to knock down the barriers that have kept us in the same place year after year. With the help of the one who was born at Christmas we can make much better choices this year.
With Christ’s help we can:
Choose to leave behind our old resentments, grudges, habits and hang-ups and open ourselves to new possibilities for achieving that which is best for us.
Choose to become more generous and giving of ourselves and our resources instead of being persuaded by materialism and the acquisition of things.
Choose to leave behind empty spirituality opening the way for true growth and maturity in the Christian Faith.
Choose to give up our hardened attitudes and become more open and flexible in following Christ’s leading.
Choose to receive grace and forgiveness so we may then give these gifts to others as we seek healing and wholeness in our relationships.
Whether we realize it or not we will be making life-and-death decisions that will change the whole direction of our lives when they are finally made. There are no completely safe choices. We are called to trust God as we pass through the gateways and doorways of our choices.
The door to the New Year is before us. In faith we can follow the Christ and go where we never have been, do what we have never attempted and become what Christ is calling us to be.
