“A happy end to the old year!”—this is what we wish one another today. But if we pause for a moment, what exactly is good about this ending? Do we rejoice that another part of our life is “over”, that we have completed another circuit around the Sun and managed to avoid the countless dangers that threatened our existence in this world? Or does the greeting express relief that we can leave something behind?
In modern commerce, the belief that “new is always better” has become an almost religious dogma. Advertisements shout at us that the old model must be sold off, even at half price, because it belongs to “yesterday” and is “outdated”.
We too may ask today: will the new year be better than the old one?
G. K. Chesterton called “chronological snobbery” the attitude characteristic of our age that earlier times were darker, more foolish and worse, while humanity has reached the summit of its development precisely in our own day. From here everything can only get better—or increasingly worse, depending on which form of snobbery happens to be preferred.
The Book of Ecclesiastes soberly reminds us: “There is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Anyone who has studied even a little history knows that human nature has remained the same. Our errors, passions and longings recur from generation to generation.
The true value and quality of a thing are shown not by its novelty, but by whether it stands the test of time. This applies to buildings, relationships and spiritual nourishment alike. C. S. Lewis offered what I consider excellent advice: “It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between. If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones.”
Lewis regarded old classic texts as important because they help us see the prejudices and errors of our own age. Contemporary authors tend to share those same prejudices and may therefore be unable to inoculate us against them. An old text that has survived for centuries has demonstrated its worth. The same is true of faith: we do not need a “modern and fashionable” gospel, but the old and eternal Gospel that has sustained millions before us through the centuries.
Most important is that the coming year should be Anno Domini—the Year of Our Lord. The Lord Jesus and his Gospel have stood the test of time better than anything else. Everything else may change—and probably soon will—becoming irrelevant like an “old model”. Yet the love and truth of Christ will remain of central importance even when time itself is no more. Our present space and time will one day be replaced by “what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
When we wish one another “a good time”, let us consider what those words truly mean. A good time is not a time in which we possess many new things or comforts, but a time filled with the Lord’s presence and his service. Whether a year is new or old, it is a good year when it belongs to the Lord in our lives.
Our passage through time should make our lives brighter and bring us closer in love to God and our neighbour.
Let us therefore enter the new year with prayerful dignity. At midnight, let us begin the year in the name of the Lord Jesus—and may his name be upon our foreheads (cf. Revelation 14:1; 22:4).
May the Lord bless you all with a truly good year!
