From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!
-2 Corinthians 5:16-17
A new year comes tomorrow and with it, new opportunities. From a Christian point of view, it seems to me the opportunity of any new day is an invitation to reexamine our journey to God. I have never believed in New Year's Resolutions, but I find January 1 can be clarifying - if I choose it to be. This year, I’m deciding to use as a lens something the Jesuit priest and philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881 - 1955) famously said: “We are not physical beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a physical experience.”
If you say you believe in Christ, then you must also believe (whether you recognize it or not) that the eternal soul inhabiting your earthly body will live on after this life is over. If my soul lives forever - whether it spends eternity in something like a heaven or something more like a hell - this puts the events and choices in my short lifetime on Earth (less than a blink of an eye to an eternal soul) in a very different light than if my soul were only to live 70-odd years and then cease to be. From the perspective of my soul’s journey to God, those earthly events beyond my control which nonetheless burn precious time and energy (I have quite a list from 2024) are, in the context of eternal transformation, far less important than how I cultivate good habits that align with God’s wishes. From an eternal perspective, it is likely that the way I choose to speak to my wife or the degree to which I choose to cultivate kindness and charity in my life every day matter infinitely more than any particular “major” event, even the event of my own death. These small daily choices eventually become, I believe, in the timelessness of my soul’s journey, the how of the “new creation” that Paul speaks about.
Following Jesus and doing our best to act in the world as he teaches, through small adjustments to our inner selves over time, maybe is the Christian journey. Father Teilhard would probably agree that asking my eternal-spiritual self: “Does this concern before me really matter in the long run… in the VERY long run?” is a useful question. This year, I plan to ask my eternal soul what he/she/it thinks more often when I’m conflicted or upset. I also resolve to more fully allow the church (a body that Teilhard called “the mediatrix between God and the world”) to guide me. One thing I know is certain: my mortal-physical self will do the thing poorly. But I know God is always present and ready to help when I ask (and when I do not). I wish you joy on your own soul-journeys and also a Happy New Year!
Musical Reflection - Tomorrow shall be my dancing day - John Rutter, Farnham Youth Choir, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Father God, we thank you for sending your Holy Spirit to help us work out our faith. Keep your word ever-present in our minds, so that we may better use our hands and our hearts to your glory. We humbly ask for your forgiveness for our failings in the year that is passing away, and for your help and guidance in the year to come. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
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