With the carols and stories of Christmas still ringing in our ears and the dawn of a new year on the horizon, we Christians, of all people, should be hopeful. The hope we hold is not grounded in the promises of any president or the results of any polls; it is not grounded in the stock market or the weather forecast or the potential of our favorite sports team; it is not dependent upon world events or the illusion of some alternate reality that denies the reality on the ground. Our hope is grounded instead in those promises incarnate in the child in Bethlehem who is the savior of the world and our Lord! At the time of his birth, the world was a mess with the Pax Romana violently enforced with crucifixions and violence; a paranoid Herod ordered the slaughter of all male children under two years of age, forcing the holy family to flee to Egypt; in his ministry Jesus was rejected in his hometown, derided by the Jewish authorities, and chided by his own followers for not being the king they wanted him to be. He was put to death on a cross for all the world to see. And after his resurrection, some sought to undermine its truth while others simply declared it untrue. If anyone had reason to be hopeless about the world, it should have been Jesus. Yet, he never gave up hope; he never stopped loving his neighbors; he never compromised the good news of God’s love for the world by adopting the sinful values of that broken world. Instead, he trusted God – fully, completely – and offered us an example of how to live faithfully. He encouraged us to follow that example and so to find joy and peace in our lives, come what may! Across the ages, a host of saints have followed his example and dared to hope in hopeless situations, to love the unlovable, to refuse to compromise their faith, and to believe where they had not seen. The world was a mess for many of them, too, but they persevered faithfully! As we look to 2026, may we be such faithful examples in our lives and life together. May we be beacons of light that shine in the darkness for all the world to see, to the glory of God. May we dare to hope in the face of the disasters, despots, and devils who “threaten to undo us,” to quote Luther’s great hymn. May we live with joy and find peace that passes our understanding, for these are God’s gifts to us to be freely held and freely shared. And so may we boldly shout Happy New Year! for the Lord our God is with us, with us every step of the way!
