God of this New Year

2023 January Blog by Naja Yazbek ~

In the weekly prayer at Centering Space last Wednesday, Ron Konkoly chose excellent texts bridging Christmas to the New Year. In the reading from Joyce Rupp, the first sentence began:

“God of this new year…”

I spent the whole time of prayer pondering on the word “new.”  Somehow, this word challenged and confused me. What exactly is new in the phrase? My mind totally refused the word “year.” How can we say a “new” year when the same planet orbits around the same old star repeatedly, eternally? A year is mainly felt in my aging bones and in the travelling seasons more than in any calendar. Of course, God can’t be “new.” The unchanging God is the same last year and this year. That’s what the Catholic teaching has repeated in my ears for so many “new years.”  Consequently, neither God is new nor the year, so what’s left?  Me!

I possibly could be new this year. “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you” said the prophet Ezekiel to Israel on behalf of Yahweh.

Like every time in January, and sometimes later, I write down a resolution list: new diet, new exercise, new love. A bundle of novelties swirl around my head making me dream of an outstanding orbital swing around the sun. I believe God likes to make a new me out of me, not like as if he is tired of my old version, but God likes to see changes in our life. The question is what do I want?   I want to be new with God this year; I want this year to be new with God.