Well, we’ve made it through another year – almost. We still need to make it through this day. We’ve had momentous changes, for sure, but also changes that have not been in the public eye. In 2025, the number of executions, especially in Florida, 19.
The number 47 may pale when we consider the numbers killed in wars, or the number of persons dying because of the elimination of food and medical aid programs to the Third World, but it says something about a coarseness that has overtaken us.
Most news has been dismal, for sure, but we have a new year to transform who we are as individuals and a society. It is easy to bemoan our situation, and there are days when I feel all is hopeless, but we who say that we follow the One who came into a world probably far worse than ours, cannot give up hope. Chief among our resolutions should be to live in a new way, one that reflects the promise of God’s realm of justice and peace, for that is the only way it will be realized.
Prayer for the Day
Spirit of Change, bring us to that place where we seek new direction
And be our constant companion as we make decisions for our lives;
Spirit of Life, open us to new ways of thinking about our world
Which often seems so confusing and troubling.
Bring us from our past into a future open with possibilities
So we may find delight in being your disciples.
We ask this in the name of the One who calls us into discipleship,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.
Socrates, Greek philosopher (d. 399 BCE)
You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations,
To open the eyes that are blind, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon,
From the prison those who sit in darkness….
See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare;
Before they spring forth, I tell you of them.
Isaiah 42: 6-7, 9