{Following is an essay version of the homily from the January 8, 2025 Chapel Service at Community Missions.}

The New Year has arrived. No matter what your feelings may be about New Years Resolutions, I think no one can avoid the feeling that this season is a ritual moment of transition. With each New Year arrives the desire and hope for new possibilities. So Happy New Year to you all!

Today is the first midweek chapel service of the year at the Mission. So, although we are past January 1^st, I want to have us look at two of the suggested scripture readings for New Years Day. They raise some interesting things to consider about the ritual moment of transition that is the beginning of a New Year. The texts are Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 and Matthew 6:25-34. Both are very familiar texts even to those who are not church goers.   

In Ecclesiastes, we read that familiar passage: “For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.” The text goes on to lay out life’s contrasts: planting and uprooting, weeping and laughing, mourning and dancing. It’s acknowledging something we all know – life has its ups and downs, its challenges and joys. Then we hear Jesus’s words in Matthew chapter 6. Jesus talks about how the birds of the air do not worry about what they will eat, and the flowers of the fields do not worry about what they will wear. God cares for them and cares even more for us. “Therefore,” Jesus says, “do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

At first glance, these might seem like contradictory messages. One tells us there are distinct seasons for everything, while the other seems to say we should just focus on today. But they’re actually showing us something profound about how life works. Whatever season we’re in – whether we’re planting or uprooting, weeping or laughing – it’s just that: a season. It will pass, and another will come, the future will continue to arrive brand new each and every day. Each new day will bring new challenges, new joy, and new hopes. Worrying won’t make the days stop coming, so pay attention to today.

“Change of Seasons” Generated by ChatGPT

This isn’t just nice words or wishful thinking. When you’re in a difficult season – whether you’re working on sobriety, looking for housing, dealing with illness, or facing any other challenge – it can feel like this is just how life will be from now on. When we project our current struggle forward, then the present moment can swallow up our hope for tomorrow. But that’s exactly when we need to remember that seasons change.

This doesn’t mean we just wait passively for change. Each day still needs to be lived, each challenge still needs to be faced. But we can face today’s troubles without letting them create worry that will steal our hope for tomorrow.

I had my first brush with trying to internalize this that lesson when I was in charge of the boat yard at a Boy Scout summer camp. My job was to make sure nothing bad happened to a bunch of 11-18 year old dudes on a beautiful 40 acre lake surrounded by mountains. Even now I have to remind myself how beautiful it was because, most days I was just a totally stressed out (and often terrified) 17 year old kid forcing a smile and saying to myself over and over “You got this…everything will be fine.” The worry I carried was pretty intense.   

In contrast, my boss, Michale, was the calmest, most level person you’d ever meet. He has one of those easy steps, gliding through any situation with smiling confidence and good humor. One day, watching him handle yet another crisis with his characteristic steadiness, I had to ask: “Mike, don’t you worry about stuff?”

His response was simple but profound: “Oh no, I never worry about anything.” he said.  “I’m concerned, but I never worry.”

That’s what these passages are teaching us – how to be concerned enough to take action today while remembering that no season lasts forever. As we begin this new year, whatever season you find yourself in, remember: this isn’t the rest of your life. It’s just right now. The promise of our faith is that we have God with us as we face today’s challenges, and so we have every reason to hold onto hope. The season will change. That’s God’s promise – not that every season will be easy, but that no season lasts forever. As the old and beautiful hymn, Great is Thy Faithfulness says: “Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow” because God is with us, concerned for our future, and God will continue to be with us on our journey through the many seasons of the year ahead of us.