Emmanuel Lutheran Church

January 2022

There is a song released by the Steve Miller Band in 1976 called “Fly Like An Eagle” which contains these words “Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’ into the future…” The words of this song remind me of the age-old saying “where has time gone?” In youth, you have the whole future to look forward to. Thirty years seems an eternity away. As you age and that future becomes the past and that past gets farther and farther behind, thirty years seems like yesterday for some reason.

2021 has “slipped” into 2022. The earth has completed another circle around the sun and a new year has begun. The marking of “time” is rather random. Did you know that there are several calendars that exist in this world? The one you may be most familiar with is the Chinese Calendar. 2022 will be the year 4720 when Chinese new year begins on February 1st. The Jewish new year, known as Rosh Hashanah, began at sunset on September 6th and in 2022 will begin at sunset on September 25th. The current Jewish year is 5782. The Jewish people mark their days from sunset to sunset because the Bible says that God created night first and then day.

Most of the world accepts the Gregorian calendar (our current system) so that time can be universal for travel and business purposes. The other calendars that exist serve a more religious purpose so that religious observances can be made on the appropriate days following tradition.

Time slips on regardless of how we keep track of it. We have no control over its passing. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring. Tomorrow is never guaranteed. Jesus himself said “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

As the earth begins its next orbit around the sun, and the night turns into day yet one more time, may God, to whom time is irrelevant, bless you with purpose and gift you with love so that your life, which is more precious than time, can be used to be a blessing to others. Each new year and new day is a gift from God. Make the most of it by being an expression of God’s timeless love in all you do. I think that’s the best way to welcome a new year and a new day.

Happy and Blessed New Year!
Pastor Alan