A HAPPY NEW YEAR?

Yesterday, several people wished me a Happy New Year. And it was kind of those who did so. But as 2025 begins I’m not.

I’m not happy that a war continues to be fought in Ukraine and men, women and children are still dying needlessly. I’m not happy that virtually the whole of Gaza looks like a bomb has hit it as a result of a bomb having hit virtually the whole of Gaza. And I’m not happy that, just this week, a jet plane has crashed landed in South Korea killing 179 of its passengers.

Furthermore, I’m not happy that 2024 saw me attending far more funerals than weddings and had me welcoming far fewer into this world than those to whom I said a last goodbye,

I could go on, but suffice to say that it’ll take more than a new series of ‘Blue Lights’, our eventually finishing the Christmas turkey, and my dog Hector always coming when he’s called, to make the year ahead a truly happy one.

Even so, I do still want to wish all those I know, and all those I don’t, a very Happy New Year – irrespective of whether you are eagerly anticipating the next twelve months, or are genuinely terrified of all that they might contain.

Because I believe that ‘in Christ’ we can be happy despite there being much that still makes us sad. I believe that it is possible to be content no matter our circumstances [Philippians 4:11] and that, though sorrowful, we can nonetheless be always rejoicing [2 Corinthians 6:10]. Because irrespective of whether it arrives this year or not until long after we have all died, I believe there is a day coming when Jesus is coming back and when he does he will ensure that, just as has been promised, every tear will be wiped away and death will be no more [Revelation 21:4].

And that will mark the beginning of an all new happy ever after.

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Other seasonal blogs relating to Christmas and the New Year

To read ‘The Repair Shop at the end of the year’, click here

To read ‘Hope for a New Year’, click here

To read a Facebook post from January 1st 2021, click here

To read ‘A Merry Christmas Omnibus’, click here

Other related blogs:

Related posts:

To read ‘When bad things happen’, click here

To read ‘Weeping with those who weep’, click here

To read ‘Still weeping with those who weep’, click here

To read ‘All’s Well that Ends Well’, click here

To read ‘on the FALLEN and the FELLED’, click here

To read ‘When our joy will be complete’, click here

To read ‘What becomes of the broken hearted? Sorrowful yet always rejoicing on Palm Sunday’, click here

To read ‘Why do bad things happen to good people? Sorrowful yet always rejoicing on Good Friday’, click here

To read ‘Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things? Rejoicing, though temporarily sorrowful, on Easter Day’, click here.

To read ‘T.S. Eliot, Jesus and the Paradox of the Christian Life’, click here

To read “Luther and the global pandemic – on becoming a theologian of the cross”, click here

To read “Why do bad things happen to good people – a tentative suggestion”, click here

To read ‘Monsters’, click here

To read ‘On Sleeping like a Baby’, click here

To read ‘But this I know’, click here

To read ‘But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope’, click here

To read “Hope comes from believing the promises of God”, click here

To read ‘The Promise Keeper’, click here

To read ‘Hearing the grass grow’, click here

To read ‘Because the world is not enough’, click here

To read ‘Do you hear the people sing?’, click here

To read “Suffering- A Personal View”, click here.

To read ‘Faith and Doubt’, click here

To read ‘Real Power’, click here

To read ‘Foolishness – Law and Gospel’, click here

To read, ‘But this I know’, click here

To read ‘Rest Assured’, click here

To read ‘The Resurrection – is it just rhubarb?’, click here