In early agrarian societies, this time offered an opportunity to celebrate the end of the harvest and the beginning of a new planting cycle. Many festivals center on sharing one’s bounty with others. On Hogmanay in Scotland, people bring gifts of shortbread, coal and whisky to their neighbors in the wee hours of the morning.
Today’s harvest may mean the end of one tax year and the beginning of the next. It is estimated that 30% of all charitable giving happens in December, mostly in the three-days leading up to New Year’s. Those days are also when magazines and newspapers run “best of 2024” lists demonstrating that even the stories we tell about ourselves are considered a treasure and a source of hope. We look to the past to find the courage and assurance of the future.
Not everyone celebrates the new year on Jan. 1. There are many wondrous ways to mark time outside of the Gregorian calendar, but every calendar has a last day and a first day. During the many days between them, human beings till the earth and seek cooperation for our survival. Each day over the year, we have been given daily bread, forgiveness and love. What we learn from the turning of one year to another is that our hope is not tied to a good outcome in the future, but can be found from the growth, strength and presence that we have offered in the past. We can resolve to be and do whatever we may with 2025, but all that is required of us is that we show up to be present and be counted among the abundance of incarnate love.
Let us join in prayer for:
- Laura Caruthers, Client Specialist II, Presbyterian Foundation
- Jennifer Cash, Copy Editor, Communications Ministry, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Let us pray:
Lover of souls, we give thanks for our daily bread, the forgiveness of sins and the love that surrounds us. May we be held in communion with you and with each other in the new year as we have been held so faithfully in the years prior. Amen.
