1/7/62

Scripture: Revelation 21: 1-5.

When Paul was writing his second letter to the Christian folk at Corinth, he said: “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold all things become new.” [II Corinthians 5: 17]. This is particularly true of those who have become distressed over, and dissatisfied with their old selves. They rejoice at the newness of being in Christ. It seems so fresh and wholesome to be a part of His presence and His purpose!

I knew a man who was perfectly familiar with some of the pressures and the compulsions of competitive business, and now and then he was caught up in something he did not like. He was also well aware of some schemings and certain deals in politics that he did not like. But in the service of Christ through the church, he used to say: “I like it, because it feels so clean.” And he really poured some enthusiasm into that part of his living.

We have just come to the end of a full, old year, and have begun a new year that may be equally full. There be some who can hardly wait to bury the old year with a quick flip of the calendar shut and a toast to the new year. And I suppose it is normal to view the new with eagerness. To many, the new style in dress, in automobiles, in architecture, is best, and most exciting. A new job is fascinating and challenging. And one is tempted to generalize that the new is always better.

There are those who feel a bit more cautious or conservative; who hold to that which has seemed good in the old; and who view the new as that which must be tested. One finds this attitude at interesting points in the literary world. Do you remember these words from Pope’s essay on Criticism?

In words, as in fashions, the same rule will hold,

Alike fantastic if too new or old;

Be not the first by whom the new are tried

Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.

At the beginning of a new year, the ledger of the past is closed. And yet it contains the record of the past. It is well that it be not forgotten for it is a record of experience by which one is guided in the keeping of the New Year’s ledger. Some of the record of the old will show that the qualities and the virtues that have been tested by time are worth continuing. To anyone with a knowledge of history --- even recent history --- it is revealing to realize how many things that appear to be new have been known and utilized in the past! One comes to a new job; or heads a committee for the first time; wants to sweep out what is old for the sake of the progress which the new appears to offer. Usually it is well to be sure that the new broom is not sweeping out some practices that have continuing value.

And yet our life does demand that which is new. And the Christian religion is the religion of the new start. That is why Paul wrote as he did to the Corinthians. After a life of hating these disturbers of the status quo, he had himself become a new person with love and power and hope and strength that he had never known before. He knew the change that comes to any person who is in Christ, and he proclaimed it unceasingly.

The writer of the book of Revelation has a vision of what can be new on a divine, cosmic scale, when he pictures God upon His throne as saying, “Behold, I make all things new.” Christianity is the religion of the new start. Its faith asks of us, “Where are you going? Do you want to make a new start?”

It is right, therefore, to think of the New Year, 1962, as a time for making a new start. Some of the burdens of the past have become too heavy to carry. This is particularly true of the wrong decisions, harmful habits, and selfish development that have marred our past. It is right to lay down the burden of guilt, at the right place in confession to God Almighty, and to hope for a new life freed from that burden.

Jesus stirs new hope in his story of the prodigal son whose life was sorely messed up, but whose loving father gives him a new start. [Luke 15: 11-32]. The love of God is like the love of that prodigal’s father. God gives us hope. And, further, we are given new insight. Try playing a little game this week. Imagine that you are looking at everything with the eyes of one who has had a sort vacation in heaven! This isn’t too far-fetched or foolish. Probably all of us have had such glimpses when we have been at worship -- and perhaps, especially after our participation in a communion service, that we do have a better brighter outlook on life. Try to see what is the clutter that should be left behind with the old year, and what is the valuable equipment to carry into the new.

God gives us new hope, new insight and new power when we lay claim to the help which He offers. He leaves it up to us whether or not we will choose, and accept, that help. But it is available. When Peter, James, and John were with Jesus on the mountain of inspiration, they were so carried away with their vision that they wanted to stay there, and build altars and see more. But Jesus sent them down the mountain -- in fact he took them down the mountain -- to live and work among people, for he knew they had the power to transform life around them. [Matthew 17: 1-8]. Let us leave behind, then, the despair and the failures of the old year. Let each of us, and all of us together, look with hope for the good of the New Year. Don’t take it for granted, but look for the good, build it, test it by the past; make the new the best yet.

Today, we begin our church year with a communion service. How should we approach the Lord’s Supper? A communicant once asked the pastor of the church, “How ought I to feel when I go to communion?” Probably there is no simple answer to the question. I do not think that there is any set of feelings that one is to put on like a cloak when one comes to communion. But, on the other hand, do not come to it “cold,” or careless, or casually.

In the first of his letters to the Corinthians, Paul suggested a helpful rule of preparation for communion. As it is translated in the New English Bible, this rule reads: “A man must test himself before eating his share of the bread and drinking from the cup.” [I Corinthians 11: 28]. Paul is not telling his readers that they must find themselves spiritually excellent and without moral blemish. Now and then someone refuses communion on the grounds that he or she is not good enough to take it. That may be as surely a sign of smugness as is the assumption that one is good enough. What Paul is advising is simply that you and I look deeply into our own hearts, and be honest with ourselves and with God about what we see. It is a call to confession.

The communion means most to us when we are well aware of our need for heaven’s help and mercy. It is for us in our need.

One of those stories that is worth frequent re-telling is that which occurred in Scotland many years ago. A prominent Edinburgh scholar was the officiating minister at communion in the Scottish church. During the service, he saw a woman, sitting in a pew near the front of the church, pass the cup along without tasting it while tears flowed down her face. He left his place at the communion table, stepped into the aisle, took the cup from the elder who was passing it, and gave it to the woman with these gentle words: “Tak’ it, woman; it’s for sinners.”

The Lord’s Supper can be more to you than just a bit of exotic ritual if you come to it in a mood of contrition, and confession, and of expectancy that you will know the lift of God’s forgiveness. For we are given this great assurance in the First Epistle of John: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” [I John 1: 9]. Come to the holy table to verify that for yourself.

When I was a young child, I gained a childish impression that communion must be a sorrowful thing, because I observed that some few people approached the table with tears in their eyes. Since then, I have come to see that quite the contrary may be true. For if we come to this table in a spirit of true confession before God, and of confident expectation that He is “just and faithful to forgive us our sins,” this service is one of deep joy.

The remembrance of a Lord who thought so much of each one of us that he was willing to sacrifice, to give, to spend all that he had or was or is -- body, mind, and spirit -- for our welfare and salvation -- yours and mine! -- is enough to fill every person with joy and thanksgiving.

It is in this light that “a man must test himself before eating his share of the bread and drinking from the cup,” knowing that, unworthy though he be, he is nevertheless, by his confession, invited to partake of this grace.

Old and even ancient as is this rite, it can mean a new experience with which to begin a good New Year. Let us make it so.

Amen.

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Delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, January 7, 1962.