As we begin each New Year the announcers on radio and television spend quite a bit of time talking about resolutions. Pastors as well look to this time honored tradition as a quick way to put a sermon or article together for their congregation after the holidays. Looking through some news letters from other congregations can give you some new insight on this old topic. One such insight this year came from Pastor Dave over at Trinity. He took the word resolution and reduced it to its components and came up with re-solution. I think that pretty much covers it. New Years is a time when you try to look at old problems in a new way. That got me thinking a little. Maybe what we need to do is stop focusing on the problems and focus on questions. Maybe then about Easter, when we have thought through the questions thoroughly, we can start thinking about solutions. That way we can avoid getting the cart before the horse. Most people resolve to do the same kind of things year after year; loose weight, get more exercise or spend more time with the people we love. It is pretty predictable, at least in my life. It is also fairly predictable that when I near the close of the year I am still thinking about the same things. It makes me think of the AA definition for insanity, “doing the same things and expecting different results.” That pretty much sums up the effectiveness of new years resolutions for me.

What I need is an epiphany, which seems rather appropriate since that is the season of the church year we are celebrating in the New Year. The word epiphany means a manifestation of God or a sudden insight into our reality and it seems to me if we are looking for an insight, questions are a lot more important than a bunch of time-worn answers that we rehash as solutions year after year. So this year I am going to do New Years Questions and possibly by Easter I might have some partial solutions.

Most of our questions have to do with how we can make our lives better. The solutions I have proposed in the past usually focus on my physical health. But the question is; “is that enough”? I believe we need to look deeper.

I believe we can find a partial answer to this in Scripture. Jesus tells us we should ‘love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' (Matt. 22:37) He gives us this basic purpose and implies that there are emotional, mental, physical and spiritual elements to this basic calling, all of us have as Christians. So instead of just thinking Physical health, ask yourself how is your emotional, mental and Spiritual health as well. As a pastor, of course Spiritual health is a great concern to me, but how do you judge a person’s spiritual health? Some examples or questions to gauge your spiritual health might be to ask yourself are you an active, growing Christian? Are you actively studying God’s word and actively serving and seeking with a small group of fellow believers? Have you a vision for your life that makes God a primary part of it? Are you a generous giver to the church and to the people around you? Remember where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Do you know what your spiritual gifts are, how God intends to use you in the faith community? These are pretty basic question and I believe all of us should have some sort of answers to these questions. And hopefully as we find and answer the questions we will be able to see the real problems and along about Easter we might begin coming up with some new solutions instead of the same old resolutions that seem to surface year after year.

Pastor Jim Bliss
January 2008