Happy New Year! 

 The one seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.”  (Revelation 21:5)

            Now is the time, a time between time, when we stand at the beginning of what will be, even while lingering in the shadow of what has been.  And as we stand in the ripe potential of this moment, blow our horns, kiss our loved ones, and sing our auld lang syne, we have the wonderful excuse to simply… be. 

We remember the past, some moments with longing we would love to recapture and others with an equal longing simply to forget.  We remember our struggles, our strivings, and our successes.  But we do not simply remember, we intentionally bid farewell to the year that was, with the undying hope of the year to come.  And so we also celebrate.

We celebrate that at this time, a time between time, the we that has been can also pass away into the night.  We celebrate that the we who shall be has not yet seen the light of day; that we too can be a new creation.  We celebrate our own potential.

And in the crux of this moment, this time between time, stands the cross of the One who is seated on the throne, the One who makes all things new.  It is that which stands between failure and success, between finality and infinitude, between the darkly lined shadows of the past and the brightly lit beacon of the future.  It is the cross of Christ.

This cross, once viewed as an instrument of torture and execution now stands as a symbol of grace and life.  It has been made new.  The we who once was in sin and death separate from God now stands forgiven and alive, joined forever to the Father through the grace of the Son.  We have been made new.

And now we stand; we do not fall; at the crux of time we stand and behold all things new.  Now is the time, the time between time.  Time to take the first step into newness of life.  Time to remember, time to celebrate, time to simply… be… what we have been made to be:  renewed!