Introduction

New clothes. New car smell. A new home, with a new address. A new job… There’s just something about new things isn’t there? Something that heightens our senses and makes us more aware and in many cases, more excited.

A fresh start, a blank canvas, a new year… These are things ripe with possibility. What will the new year bring? What will I paint on this canvas? What will be different about this coming year? What things am I ready to put behind me and where will I end up? What things will I finally let go of and what new things will I take up.

Staring at a fresh calendar can fill us with anticipation, or in some cases, trepidation. As we look into the beginning of another new year together, I thought it would be a good time to see what the bible might have to say about it all. What wisdom do the scriptures offer for these specific seasons of new-ness, beginnings, starting fresh, or in some cases, starting over. We know that God will be with us always and that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. But what does that mean THIS year? And as I’m sure you’re thinking, what does that mean for MY life?

As C.S. Lewis said, “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” Maybe it’s time for another goal or a new dream. Maybe it’s time for a new song.

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.

Main Teaching

For those of you wondering about the title of today’s message, it comes from the book of Psalms… Which happens to be a collection of poems, songs, and hymns that the people of God have been singing and reciting for many hundreds of years. The Psalms were meant to be sung, or in more popular terms, the Psalms are the ancient playlist of the people of God. And today, we’re looking at one specific Psalm as we think about the significance of another new year.

To sing a “new song” would indicate to an ancient reader that there was an event to commemorate. In other words, a new song marks an event worth remembering, and apparently it’s also one worth celebrating. We should also take note that the Psalms are meant to be sung in community, by the community, as the events of old are rightly understood not to impact just one, but everyone. A new job doesn’t just impact one person, it impacts a family. A new home marks the beginning of new memories for everyone involved…I fear sometimes that we see events only as they impact us as individuals, but the reality is that singular events have ripple effects.

You may have heard of this phenomenon called the butterfly effect… Which is the notion that the world is deeply interconnected, such that one small occurrence can influence a much larger and more complex system. The effect is named after an allegory for chaos theory; it evokes the idea that a small butterfly flapping its wings in one part of the world could, hypothetically, cause a typhoon elsewhere.

Have you ever thought of your decisions like that before? That even the small, seemingly insignificant things you do every day could have such a larger impact on the world around you… Did Jeff Bezos think that Amazon would grow into a trillion dollar company, impacting hundreds of millions of families every day… Did Banting, Best, and Macleod think that their work with insulin would save millions upon millions of lives, impacting generations of families for decades to come ... View this full sermon with PRO Premium