Homily for New Yeay's Day
NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS
by John T. Baker
My New Year's resolutions,
What a pleasure to describe:
To be more neat, watch what I eat,
Less frequently imbibe;To be benign and patient,
Ever caring and polite,
With full aplomb serenely calm
And nevermore uptight;To suffer asses gladly,
Cast aside pretence and pride,
In all I wear look debonair,
Genteel and dignified.My New Year's resolutions,
How inspiring to review . . .
Spectacular! . . . too bad they are
Impossible to do!
New Years Day then, is a time for resolutions, but with a tinge of humorous realism hanging about them. New Year's Day is above all a day for reflection on time and how we use it. A primary feature of modern times has been the development of technology and time-saving devices. Fast transport means that we save time in our travels. How many by-passes were opened in the year gone by? What have we done with the time saved? Watching 'Reality TV' in an attempt to avoid reality?
No skill, no art, is honed or developed without time and devotion. The greatest poets will spend hours and hours working on a single verse. Seamus Heaney has written that his most valuable possession is his fountain pen; his next most valuable possession is his waste paper basket. If we are to develop any skill, it demands time. This of course applies to love and relationships. Any of you with children will know that they demand enormous time.
The past leans heavily upon us at all times, but especially at this time of year. Instinctively we look back. We are much more at home with the backward glance than the forward gaze. This is perfectly understandable; the backward glance merely exercises our memory; but the forward gaze makes demands upon our imagination. For this reason, the past will always be more manageable (and more popular!) than the future. The 'known' will always have a stronger pull than the 'unknown'. However, there are dangers inherent in these neat distinctions. One of the obvious dangers is the adoption of a fatalistic passivity regarding the future: 'The future is in God's hands; there is not a thing we can do about it!' sort of attitude.
There is an element of truth in this, obviously. None of us can predict what the future will bring. But we are not completely powerless. Just as surely as we are creatures of the past, we can be architects of the future. We can make provisions; we can lay plans. I have referred here before to the writings of Dr. Mark Patrick Hederman in this regard:
The future is not something out there that we step into as an already designed space. The future is ourselves as we choose to become, melded with the world as we inherit it and as we choose to arrange it. The future is alive with possibility to the extent that we are open to change.
These words express a profound truth about the future. The future is in our hands. It is a precious gift that we can squander, abuse, exploit, distort or discard. But Hederman's sentiments are particularly apt for Augustinian Church here as we enter our first year in this re-ordered building. 2006 will be a very special year for us. We set out to revitalise the old by sensitive and relevant change. This restored building, together with the restored Priory, will challenge us and stretch us. It will challenge us to present the gospel is a new way, and through new avenues which we had not at our disposal before. There is no reason for example why Lenten talks could not be conducted here in this sacred space, given the flexibility of the seating and the great space at our disposal here. That is just one simple -if obvious- example. But it will largely be up to you, the community, to explore these issues together and to tap into the resources that lie dormant in this community of believers, to explore the latent possibilities of this place.
Some have expressed misgivings about the changes made to this building. There is a danger that those of us closely involved with these changes will become over protective of them and over defensive about them. Those who beg to differ, or even object, must be assured that they are more than welcome in this place. They must feel the freedom to dissent, and given the space to voice that dissent. But we must all appreciate that change and movement is built into the very fabric of life itself. It would be very peculiar if our churches remained static and indifferent as the world moved on.
Today, New Year's Day, we are more conscious than at any other time of time. We should have a profound respect for time. This profound respect for time lies behind the Sabbath law. It recommends that we use our hands in service as well as our hearts in prayer. We are encouraged to spend time with our neighbour, especially when that neighbour needs our time. In Ireland there was a tradition on Sundays of hospitality and visiting, of doing nothing, yet doing what really matters. Now we spend Sundays on ourselves. We starve ourselves of rounded lives when we pack our Sundays with jobs that could wait till Mondays, or even Fridays.
The old egg timer was a great image. There we saw the sands of time run out before our eyes. It is the most effective illustration we have of the ebb and flow of time. Time literally runs out before our eyes. But the more conscious we become of this, the more we will treasure time as a gift. I wish you and yours a very happy New Year in the very words of blessing that the Lord commanded Aaron to pray over the people of Israel.