Nick  Writes  ………

I’m sure by now I have had the chance to wish most of you a Happy Year! But just in case Shanah Tovah!

This is the typical Hebrew greeting that the Jewish community offer each other at New Year, which translates as “Good Year”.

As we know Jesus, a faithful Jew, would have actually spoken Aramaic. Aramaic is a language closely related to Hebrew, and as such Shanah Tovah is the closest approximation to what He might have said.

But reflecting on this I was led to think that New Years don’t just happen on the 1st January. Indeed, the Jewish new “Rosh Hashanah” is celebrated between 22nd-24th September 2025.

In this way, our Anglican church year ends with Christ The King, and begins on the first Sunday of Advent on around 1st December.

And last year our visit to New York coincided with Chinese New Year on 10th February, when we were lucky to witness the wonderful lantern festivals and dragon parades.

But “New Years” also come in the world of work.

If you work in finance, and particularly tax, the start of the year is around 5th April.

And personally, I’ve always struggled with 1st January, as the start of the year. This is because from 5 years old I was in school either as a pupil or teacher, consequently the 1st September has always been my “new year”.

In this way we might reflect that “New Years” actually happen constantly throughout the year, and are moments of change, when we transition from the old to the new.

Of course, Jesus Himself was a new beginning, and a transition from the old to the new (and I don’t mean the Testaments here). Jesus came to bring new life, as Paul reminds us in Romans 6, through His death and resurrection

“Just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life”

And we attest to this through Baptism and Confirmation, and each Sunday as we reaffirm through our Confession, Creed and the Eucharist, our commitment to follow Christ.

But also in His ministry, Jesus preached new beginnings and offered new life to those He met. In fact, the Gospels are littered with stories about people who encountered Jesus, and transformed from an old way of living to new one. One of my favourites is the tale of Zacchaeus the Tax Collector in Luke 19. I’ll leave you to read this for yourself, but it is a wonderful illustration of how change can come at any time, and in unexpected places, leaving us transformed, and changed for the better.

So as we move into the new year, and continue our journey with Jesus, let us too be open to unexpected change that will transform us, and our church for the better. Knowing as Jeremiah spoke that God has a plan for us to prosper, and just like Zacchaeus, through faith God has give us all we need for this coming year (whenever it starts or finishes!!!).

So may I end with the rather lovely, and slightly longer Hebrew New Year greeting, that I’m sure Jesus would have used to his own friends and family, and literally means “may you have a good and sweet new year.”

Shanah tovah umtukah

 

 

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