Jeremiah 31:1-14
John 1: 1-18
Would that on the stroke of Midnight, instead of gathering in crowds of strangers in Time Square, to kiss and shout “Happy New Year,” if at the stroke of Midnight we greeted life as REDEEMED, REDEEMED BY GOD! We have developed this whole celebration based on the ticking of time and turning of the calendar, recording that another year is past and over, sealed, now we begin the next. What if instead, we began this year knowing what has gone on before, and claiming there was present an idea which now is a new and different reality for the present and future. More than the making of rash Resolutions, the New Year would mark a fresh celebration of life!

The Evangelist of John described something similar.
Matthew, Mark and Luke emphasize the suffering of the Christ on the cross, as the means of Humanity's redemption. As if, the more he suffered, the more complete our salvation. For those Gospels it is as if Jesus goes from being a man, into becoming the Messiah, by the quality and quantity of his suffering and death, to be reborn at the Resurrection. According to John, while the cross is vitally important, the INCARNATION is a new reality that comes with the arrival of the Savior marking a new year, a new time.

Think of it this way. At the dawn of the Universe, the Beginning of time and space, the Origins of Life, what was there? Regardless of whether we follow Genesis, or Scientific Reason, we postulate that there had to have been a Prime Source, according to Darwin: A Big Bang, a cataclysm of gases; according to Genesis: God. And according to the Evangelist of John, with God in the beginning was THE LOGOS. What is a Logos?
We know that the Evangelist's point is that “what Christ represents” was with God, so try if you will to supplant other words, for “what Christ represents”.
In the beginning with God was “Love,” in the beginning with God was “Compassion,” in the beginning with God was “Empathy, Faith, Hope, Peace” in the beginning with God was “Community,” in the Beginning with God was a “New Idea,” in the Beginning with God was “Imagination.” Throughout the first era of time: Love, Compassion, Empathy, Faith Hope, Peace, Community, Newness, Imagination, all that Christ represents, was with God. In that former time, all things were Created out of the Waste and Void of Darkness: Light, Substance, Land, a differentiation of earth and the universe. In that first time, the Logos, all that represents Christ was with God, and was present in all creation. The Logos is part of all that exists in Created Order.

Different from the Roman God Janus, from which we get the name of the month of “January” was a God with with two heads, or perhaps two faces, pointed forward and back, Anger and Love, Past and Future. Instead the Evangelist's description of The LOGOS and God are that they are One, completely integrated and involved in all that occurs. At the INCARNATION, that is at Christmas, The LOGOS = Love Compassion, Empathy, Faith, Hope, Peace, New Ideas, Imagination became one with Humanity, having a birth, and feelings, emotions, thought, aging, suffering, death, AND YET Death was not the end, because the LOGOS is able to be resurrected to Eternity. This event, the LOGOS which was with God and now is One with Humanity, changed time, created a New Year, a New Era. While God can continue to Create out of the Waste and Void of Darkness, because far be it from us to dictate what God can or cannot do. The LOGOS with Humanity is now able to ReCreate, to Redeem, what has been into something different.

The Words of John Milton, from Paradise Lost in our Call to Illumination describe this as a shift in focus, altering from esoteric and theoretical, to what is practical and essential for life. It is tempting for us, to try to live at the Polarities of Life, as if all were Suffering, or all were about Hope. The year now ended, was this a year of Devastation as Haiti experienced the Worst Earthquake in Modern times, as the BP Oil Rig cracked and crude seeped up out of the depths, as the electorate attempted to vote out Incumbents who had made a career of government; or was this a year of Hope as a new Economy was born, as Scientists discovered the possibility of life on Mars, as Billionaires began to discover that if you do not share your wealth with those in need, you are a Jerk?

The shift from Modernity, to Post-Modern Culture is a shift to BOTH/AND. A recognition that life is not contained in absolutes, but can be observed and understood in multiple realities simultaneously. So what Christianity brought to humanity was recognition that God is both Creator and Redeemer. As described by Jeremiah, the very one who Judges us and found us guilty, sending us into exile, is also the one who aches for us and redeems us, bringing home not only the victorious, but also the suffering and those in need.

Next Sunday, the 9th of January, the people of Southern Sudan will vote whether to create a new Nation. This is not simply about the refugees of war whom we sponsored as a Church, or about the future of the Clinic we have constructed there. The Largest Nation in Africa, is voting whether to split into two nations, whether to continue a practice of treating one people as oppressed and non-existent for the benefit of others, or whether to recognize and defend a Nation with rights and freedoms? Greater than an absolute, this is also a decision that arises out of the ancient tribal history of these peoples, and laden with the possibilities of war.

When I came to serve as your Pastor, I sat down and reread the history of this congregation in the Minutes of the Session, which for the first 140 years were written in quill pen.
At the time, there had been interest in turning the Sanctuary 180 degrees, cognizant that we are entering off the Parking Lot.
There had been interest in claiming the Mission of this Church is Presbyterian Manor.
There had been interest in claiming the Mission of this Church was the Early Childhood Center.
There were those who believed in Music, and the purpose of the Church was in demonstrating the best musical offerings possible.
And there were those who believed the Church was present in order to support Christian Education.
What we came to recognize, by rereading from whence we had come, was that throughout our heritage the Faith Community has meant differing things to differing generations, and we have differing priorities. There was a time in which we chose to not be identified as A Church, but instead as A Chapel, and other times in which our purpose fit within the needs of the community, so as to call ourselves the Religious Society.
Throughout the last year, our Session have examined who we are and what is our Mission, cognizant that the last Mission Statement we had was that “We Welcome all like us, who desire to know Christ;” and that there have been efforts for us to consider “Playing with what Google Cannot answer,” understanding that faith needs to be more fun and playful than fact, and deals with a differing reality from reasoned Questions and Absolute Answers. After examining the recent accomplishments and activities of the Church, the giving and membership, and core principles, what we have returned to for the time being is what is said at every celebration of the Sacraments, that “We reach out to all, trying to make the resources of faith available and useful to all wishing to receive.”
In this way, when there are couples waning to marry, or present a child for the sacraments, we can serve them, but also recognize that as the Sacraments do not require residency, perhaps these are invitations for these persons to become part of the church.
WE do not know what the future holds, but rather than making people adapt to our program, our Church is reaching out to serve as people desire to receive, while holding to the truth being the truth, revealed differently in different circumstance. What has been created is continually being redeemed and recreated for new years.