New Year Resolutions – January Clergy Reflection

The start of a new year normally brings with it a sense of optimism for the year ahead coupled with a commitment to ‘do better’. In years gone by I would have worked myself up into a frenzy preparing a set of resolutions for the new year that would have details how I would better myself in the months to come: I must lose weight, I will read more, I shall spend less time looking at a screen, I’m going to get up earlier and stop going to bed so late, I’ll be more helpful round the house and less grumpy.

You can imagine the list, and maybe you have something similar running through the back of your mind.

The problem is that the act of creating New Year’s resolutions often carry a message that runs counter to the message of Jesus. The desire for self-actualisation, self-improvement and self-help comes from a “do it yourself” attitude that urges us to “pull ourselves up by our bootstraps.” The emphasis is on the self. This modern narrative tends to push God aside, treating Him as distant and uninvolved while we take matters into our own hands. But this approach misses the heart of the gospel and the lessons of the church calendar.

Advent reminds us that God came to dwell among us precisely because we cannot save ourselves. Epiphany celebrates the discovery of Christ’s redeeming presence in the world, a knowledge of God that is revealed to us and is not our own.

And Lent calls us to reflect on Christ’s sacrifice, an act of love that no one else could accomplish. Together, these seasons point us away from self-reliance and toward the truth that our hope rests entirely in Him.

So, this year my prayer for you is that in all the busyness of the new year, you find time not for improvement but for rest, not for self-help but for peace.

Revd Canon James Lawrence

Canon Missioner