Well, it's a brand new year and the world's greatest "non-event" has come and gone.  We're all still alive, nothing vital stopped, and time moves on.  Last Friday Carol watched a TV crew in an Albertson's store interviewing people who were frantically buying batteries, water, and canned goods in a last minute attempt to be prepared for the unexpected.

          The TV reporter interviewed a man from Australia who said he'd just called home where it was already year 2000 and everything was okay.  So why, he asked, were Americans so worried?  As Carol told me this, she chuckled at those frantic shoppers, forgetting that just an hour before she'd asked me to be sure to fill a couple of large water jugs "just in case."

          And now we've entered a new period of a thousand years.  2 Peter 3:8 tells us, "But do not forget this one thing, dear friends:  With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day."  So God has given us the promise of one of His days - a new millennium!

          Yes, it is a new year and we all have a new beginning.  Somehow the unknown of this new year turned something very normal into fear of the abnormal.  The media hype turned a normal year change into panic and predictions of widespread trouble.  Somewhere out there several groups of people who were all prepared for the end of the world are wondering what to do next.

          "In the beginning," wrote John, "was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."  John's incantation of His gospel echoes the first words of the Bible, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."  Everything needs a beginning, even time, and that's a truth many scientists haven't yet grasped.  Nothing made of matter is without beginning.

          Only God, the almighty Creator, the Holy One who really matters, had no beginning.  He is, was and ever shall be, forever.  He is the Eternal, the Changeless, the One who knows all, sees all and is present everywhere, at the same time in the past, the future, and with us right now.  All people have a beginning, but we will not have an ending, because God has created us to be eternal, living forever, either with Him in heavenly bliss or separated from Him in eternal condemnation.

          At some point last Friday, a clock in the Pacific island nation of Kiribati rang in the year 2000 at midnight.  Over 2000 years ago, a baby cried out at midnight in a Bethlehem stable, a baby sent by God because He was the Son of God, a baby who would change the world forever.  They gave Him the Hebrew name Y'shua, Joshua as we say, "He who saves," the one we know as Jesus.  And with His birth a new era for mankind began.

          It was a new beginning for the baby and for the world.  It was a new beginning for Mary and Joseph, too.  Everything had changed for them nine months before when they were told they'd be part of a miraculous birth.  It took an angel to convince both of them the expected child would be the Son of God.  But they did believe and God made good on His promise, as He always does.

          It was a new beginning for the world over two thousand years ago, because this child was the "Word," God's message for the world in a human body.  Most messages can be merely spoken, but really important ones require a living Messenger.  "Y'shua ha Nosari," Jesus of Nazareth, born of Virgin Mary, is God's living word to people of every nation and every millennium, word of His eternal love and salvation though His Only Son.  "He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made;  without him nothing was made that has been made."  Profound words about the Living Word, Y'shua Meshiach, Jesus the Christ.

          There's a little prayer I love, "O God of new beginnings and second chances, here I am again."  He has always been a God of new beginnings.  Christ's coming into the world was God giving the whole world another chance.  It was a second chance for the Canaanites, Greeks and Romans who had refused to accept the Jewish God as real.  It was a second chance for the Jewish people who had broken covenant with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  It was a second chance for the rest of the world's people, from that time until now, because of a broken relationship with God that needed repairing, a brokenness due to our sin.

          Sin separates us from God.  During the holidays I read Faith of My Fathers, an autobiography of John McCain, Navy pilot and Viet Nam POW, Senator from Arizona and now presidential candidate.  He wrote that the worst punishment as a prisoner of war was the isolation from other prisoners.  He said, "[For the first time] I was unable to communicate with anyone for an extended period of time.  My isolation was awful, worse than the beatings I had...when I was deprived of any contact with my comrades, I was in serious trouble."

          That's what our sin does.  It separates us from God, and puts us in serious trouble.  Sin separates us from God and from each other.  You and I need to be re-united, with each other and especially with God.  We need a new beginning, and God gives us that through His Son Jesus.  "O God of new beginnings and second chances, here I am again."

          John continues, "In him was life, and that life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it."  There's a lot of darkness in our world because of sin.  The Bible says there is no one without sin, so that includes us.  Without God's mercy we're lost.  Without forgiveness, we're in serious trouble and don't stand a chance.  Every day we sin, and every day we need God's forgiveness.  But when we trust in Jesus, the Word of God Made Flesh, when we believe He is our Savior and have faith in Him, we are forgiven.  In Jesus we're given a new beginning and a second chance.

          This new beginning changes our life.  When Cpt. John McCain was released from his Viet Nam prison, he was a changed man.  Nothing would ever be the same for him.  He wrote, "As I flew to freedom in the company of many men who had suffered valiantly for their country's cause, [I knew that life] would never again be quite the same."

          When you and I come to know Jesus Christ, life will never again be quite the same.  It is a life of new beginnings.  When we sin, He is there to give us a second chance.  When we fall, He is there to pick us up.  When we do foolish things, He is there to forgive us.  When our sin separates us from Him or other people, He is there to bring us back together again.

          Every day God gives new beginnings and second chances to all kinds of people in all stages of life.  He gives new beginnings  ...To the man coming home from the hospital after a serious auto accident  ...To the woman coming home with twin babies  ...To the parents whose last child left home for college  ...To the young woman gone to work in a distant city  ...To the faithful Christian just laid to his eternal rest.

          God gives a new beginning to the addict who's begun attending AA meetings  ...To the young husband and wife just discharged from the army  ...To the pastor just forgiven for speaking careless words  ...And to Epiphany Lutheran, a little flock Christ has built into a church, ready to be chartered and already reaching out to the community with the Gospel.  "O God of new beginnings and second chances, here I am again."

          What new beginning do you need?  What second chance would you like?  Whatever it is, God has one for you.  Let Him be Lord of Your life in this New Year of grace.  It's year 2000, so look for "2000 Blessings."  Try keeping track of how He blesses you this year.  Write His blessings down, and always remember that it's His love giving you them.

          Perhaps you've already read predictions made for the coming year, decade or century.  I have some.  Barring our Lord's return to earth, you can be sure these things will happen in year 2000,  ...A lot of people will put the wrong year when writing a check  ...A lot of children will whine about going back to school  ...A lot of people will wonder what to do with the generator and all the bottled water they've bought.

          The Stock Market will go up and it will come back down, many times  ...Politicians will get elected and begin breaking campaign promises  ...Persecution of Christians will continue to escalate around the world, and some of us will be personally ridiculed for our faith  ...Churches will do dumb things, and its people will need forgiveness  ...More people will visit and join Epiphany Lutheran Church of Castle Rock.  All these things will happen - you can count on it.  You see, predictions are easy if you don't get specific.

          May God grant us 2000 blessings in this new year.  If you have struggles, it's a blessing because it will give you endurance and you will see how God will help.  If you're ridiculed for your faith, it's a blessing, because others, even our Lord, suffer the same.  If you have health problems, it's a blessing, because He'll heal you.  If you have joy, it's a blessing because it came from Him.  2000 blessings, my friends, 2000 blessings!  Amen

Copyright © 2000 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.