New Year, New Hope - from the Riverside Avenue Christian Church Monthly Newsletter
I don’t know about you, but 2026 feels like a big number. So did 2025, being a quarter of a century since the turning of the millennium, but now there’s no doubt: if you’re rounding the century to the nearest half, we are closer to the midway point than the beginning. And that’s a lot to wrap your head around. On the other hand, it’s a reminder: we are only a part of history. Our lives do not encompass all that there is. There have been many generations before us, and there will be many after us. Perhaps there can be some freedom in that: however big your resolutions are this year, it’s probably OK if you don’t complete them all. There’s A LOT more time to go. Folks before you and after you have done worse. If self improvement is important to you, just do your best, and live with some grace.
This year, as we begin our journey through the Gospel of John, I’m thinking a lot about the practice of gratitude. A theologian I’ve been reading recently stated that the end of all theology is the practice of doxology, which is a way of saying “thank you” to God. And it’s has me thinking, as we head into this new year, with it’s big numbers, and world-wide problems, if, rather than focus all the time on the things that are wrong (or worrying, or disconcerting…or, insert your favorite neurosis here) I instead set out to focus on the joy of life. I don’t mean simply seeking pleasure; and I don’t mean turning completely inward and ignoring all of the other stuff. I just mean finding my foundation in a beautiful, grace-filled world.
When I was in Divinity School, I had the opportunity to meet a famous Nicaraguan poet and Catholic priest named Ernesto Cardenal. He talked about his work among the poor in the country, as well as his involvement in the revolution in the early 1980s, which saw the oligarchic Samosa family removed from power. Cardenal talked about the importance of poetry in his life, and how it had given him a foundation that rested not an anger, or hatred, but rather, on the joy of being alive. His most famous work, a long poem called the Cosmic Canticle, tells of the glory of creation, and sings over many, many pages about the goodness of God in making and sustaining all that is.
For Cardenal, this joyful perspective sustained him in his world. Rather than turn away from the world, it gave him the foundation to press forward, even when things were difficult. And I wonder, as we enter this new year, if we can take a similar posture. Can we find our foundation in the joy of being alive? This doesn’t mean we completely ignore the world around us. To the contrary, it means that we approach that which feels overwhelming from a place of resting in the grace of God.
Blessings,
Rev. Andrew Guthrie