[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during January 2023]
Once again it is time to bin the old calendar. Not long ago it was new and represented the hopes and fears of a year about to unfold. Now, those pictures that we admired during the past twelve months have had their time and will be replaced by new ones. The pages of the old calendar can invoke memories, both good and bad, successes, failures, lessons learnt, shared joys or pain endured – will we discard them as well?
Did the past year drag by slowly or do we share the sentiment expressed by Tevye, the Jewish milkman in the musical ‘Fiddler on the Roof’:
Sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset, swiftly fly the years,
One season following another, laden with happiness and tears.
The original story on which the musical is based was set in a village in Ukraine which, in 1905, was in an area under Russian domination. Now, nearly 120 years later, that area is once again under threat from Russian forces.
Tevye was about to lose his livelihood and his home. He would become a refugee yet he was still able to recognise that his situation contained both happiness and tears. What was it that sustained Tevye during this difficult period? He relied on his trust in God and his community’s traditions. As we look back on the past year do we too recognise both happiness and tears? New arrivals as well as departures, relaxation as well as stress, laughter as well as sorrow, income as well as expenditure?
The book of Ecclesiastes was written by Solomon, a man who was disillusioned by his successes in life; he had nothing further to look forward to.[1] The book itself is often seen as an over-indulgence of hyperbole and cynical observations but much of what it contains can be thought-provoking. Solomon wrote “The end of a matter is better than its beginning”[2] but do we agree? Some might argue that the best thing about 2022 is that it is now history. Perhaps a more positive response would be to replicate the example of the prophet Samuel at a time when his nation was being attacked: 
Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us. 1 Samuel 7 v12 [NIVUK]
Do you have a memento of God’s help during the past year?
We might not share all the details of Tevye’s beliefs but we too can trust in God and build on our collective experience of his faithfulness. Those who have gone before often leave valuable advice such as these lines from one of Johnson Oatman’s hymns:
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.
The start of a new year is not just retrospective; it is an opportunity to look forwards, to make changes, to dream up some resolutions which we might actually keep. However, the festivities that mark the arrival of the new year often mask an anxiety about what it will bring. We enter 2023 with a king on the British throne and a war raging in Europe. In similar circumstances in 1939 the then British king addressed the nation, quoting these words from Minnie Louise Haskins (1875-1957)
And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
It is sound advice for us too.
References:
[1] Ecclesiastes 1 v12-14
[2] Ecclesiastes 7 v8
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Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © Steve Humphreys
Thanks Steve,
I have just listened to the soundtrack of the ‘Sunrise,sunset’ song from Fiddler on the Roof by Topol, the lyrics are so appropriate for me.
You have really reminded me of the need to count my blessings and to approach the new year in a more positive way. The Bible extracts are particularly appropriate and helpful.
Thank you once again.