Faithfully Facing our Future
New Year’s Customs
Not all countries celebrate the New Year at the same time or in the same way because of different calendars and customs.
In Ancient Egypt, the holiday was celebrated when the Nile flooded, usually near the end of September. This flooding made it possible to grow crops in the desert, and the people celebrated by taking statues of the god Amon, his wife and son, up the Nile by boat. Singing, dancing, and feasting was done for a month, then the statues were returned to the temple.
Babylonia’s New Year was in the Spring. During the festival, the king was stripped of his clothes and sent away, and for a few days there was a relaxation of laws. Then the king returned in grand procession, dressed in fine robes. Everyone returned to work and behaved properly. Thus the New Year gave people a new start to their lives.
The Roman New Year festival was called the Calends, and people decorated their homes and gave each other gifts. It was Emperor Julius Caesar who began the calendar system in which the first month is named for the two-faced god Janus.
The Celtic New Year festival took place at the end of October, at summer’s end. The Celts gathered mistletoe to keep ghosts at bay, for this was the time when the dead were thought to return to haunt the living.
The Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, is a holy time when people consider things they have done wrong in the past and promise to do better in the future. Special services are held in synagogues and the Shofar is blown.
The Feast of Trumpets was the first of the fall festivals, marking the New Year according to the civil calendar (the religious year began in the spring).
The Muslim Calendar is based on the movements of the moon, so the date of New Year is eleven days earlier each year. In some Islamic nations, people put grains of wheat or barley in a little dish to grow. By New Year’s the grains have produced shoots, reminding the people of a new year of life.
Hindus do not all celebrate New Year in the same way or at the same time. The people of West Bengal wear flowers of pink, red, purple, or white. In Kerala, mothers put food, flowers, and little gifts on a special tray to surprise their children. In central India, orange flags are flown from buildings. In Gujarat in western India, small oil lamps are lit along the roofs of buildings.
In Vietnam, the New Year is called Tet Nguyen Dan, or Tet for short. It begins between January 21 and February 19, the exact date changing from year to year. The Vietnamese believe there is a god in every home who travels to heaven (traditionally on a carp) to report how good or bad each family member has been in the past year. Live carp are often purchased and set free in a river.
In Shinto families in Japan, a rope of straw is often placed across the front of houses to keep out evil spirits and bring happiness during the coming year.
The Chinese New Year is celebrated some time between January 17 and February 19, at the time of the new moon, and is call Yuan Tan. It is a time of parades and street processions involving large costumes and thousands of lanterns which light the way for the New Year. Firecrackers are used to frighten the spirits away.
In Greece, New Year’s Day is also the Festival of Saint Basil, who was famous for his kindness. Greek children leave their shoes by the fire on New Year’s Day with the hope that he will come and fill them with gifts.
In some villages in Scotland, barrels of tar are set afire and rolled through the streets, signifying the burning of the old year.
In the United States, New Year’s Eve is celebrated with parties and champagne by some, and by prayer and worship by others in traditional “watch night” services. January 1st is devoted to parades, football games, and for some, black-eyed peas.
All over the world, Robert Burns’s poem Auld Lang Syne is sung at midnight on New Year’s Eve. The words auld lang syne mean old, long time.
How should Christians Face the New Year? With Faith!!!!!
Topic: God assures us of a future that is better than all our past.
The problem is that:
1. Our future is unknown. You cannot see it; you cannot touch it. You can never be certain of it.
2. Man has an instinctive fear of the unknown, which determines how we face future.
3. We should all be concerned about the future because we will have to spend the rest of our lives there.
The 19th century politician Benjamin Disraeli said:
"What we anticipate seldom occurs; what we least expect generally happens."
Humanly speaking, we would do well to remember Disraeli’s quote.
Like clockwork at the end of each year, many so called experts make predictions concerning for the coming year.
The tabloids are full of predictions from astrologers, and psychics, who predict the future for the New Year.
But spiritually speaking, Christians know that the future is not seen in the stars, or in the minds of so-called psychics.
Signs can be seen in a heart which is seeking those things which are spiritual.
Too better explain this recall how Jesus scolded the Pharisees and Sadducees for not discerning the times in which they lived.
Matt 16:1-3 NIV
16:1 The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.
2 He replied, "When evening comes, you say, ’It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’
3 and in the morning, ’Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.
Application of this Scripture:
A person who is merely religions, and not faithful will make a better weather prediction than a faithful follower to face the future.
We need to face the future with faith, because our nation has lost sight of God, and all that God represents
1. Wisdom, Truth, A sense of right and wrong, standards of decency, honesty, morality, and upright behavior.
2. We are spiritual pilgrims in an unholy land.
3. Bill Gaither once wrote some very truthful lyrics once: We may not know what the future holds, but we know who holds our hand!
Corrie ten Boom said:
Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.
We can faithfully face the future, since discernable signs give us understanding of the present and future character of Jesus.
“I AM gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls”
Matthew 11: 29
“I AM with you always, to the very end of the age”
Matthew 28: 20
“I AM the living bread that came down from heaven”
John 6: 51
“I AM the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life”
John 8: 12
“I AM the gate for the sheep” - “I AM the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved”
John 10: 7 + 9
“I AM the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep”
John 10: 11
“I AM the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies”
John 11: 25
“I AM the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”
John 14: 6
“Be holy, because I AM holy”
I Peter 1: 16
“I AM making everything new”
Revelation 21: 5
Conclusion: PROMISES OF GOD
God has never promised to solve our problems. He has not promised to answer our questions ... He has promised to go with us.
A. W. Tozer’s New Year’s Message
A. W. Tozer, long-time editor of the Alliance Witness, once penned this greeting for the cover of the January 1, 1938, edition of his magazine, and it was reprinted on the cover for the New Year’s edition in 1979. It read in part:
While all the promises of God are true and precious, yet it is good to take them one by one and especially commit ourselves to them. If you ask God to give you a special message for the opening year, one that will be made seasonable and real in every exigency of the unknown future, you will be surprised how faithfully He will fulfill His Word, and how fittingly the Holy Spirit will speak to you of things to come, and anticipate the real needs and exigencies of your life.
1. We don’t need to read behind the experts in the fields of economics, culture, or politics to know what tomorrow holds.
2. We don’t need to consult the psychics and astrologers either.
3. The child of God needs only to consult his Bible and be available to the call of God on His life.
The faithful become winners in life.
The future is bright and beautiful – it is filled with the promises of God.
