My friends asked me to do a devotion for the New Year at our community New Year’s Eve party. Here it is.

For the past few day, I’ve been searching for the perfect verse to illustrate a devotion. One that talks about hope, and plans. Of course, I thought about Jeremiah 29:11, and Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. Somehow, though, nothing gelled.

Then on Sunday, December 31, I found the passage – by listening in church. One of the things I love about my church is that it uses a lectionary, a prescribed series of readings for every day of the year, and especially Sundays. If you follow it, you’ll read through the whole Bible in two years. What’s nice about it is that 1) Anglicans all over the world are studying those verses the same day and 2) it forces you to read parts of the Bible you’d otherwise skip. We always have an Old Testament reading, a Psalm, a New Testament reading, and a reading from one of the Gospels. Sunday’s gospel passage, one of my favorites, spoke to me. I want to share it with you.

The reading is from the Gospel of John, starting in Chapter 1, verse 1, continuing through verse 18.

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. ⁸ He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

⁹ The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. ¹¹ He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. ¹² But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) ¹⁶ For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

John 1:1-18

There’s so much in that passage we could just meditate on it all day! But as I listened to it, and read it and pondered it later, I realized that this passage covers so many of the themes we associate with the New Year.

Hope

Verse 5 tells us that the “Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” That is a major reason for hope there.

Security

When I start to think about this new year before us, I can get pretty wound-up thinking about all the things that could go wrong. Will the election go off smoothly? Will we have riots this summer like we did in 2020? Will the wars going on now intensify?

But then I read verse 3: “All things were made through him and without him was not any thing that was made.” I realize – the creator of the Universe is still with us, and He’s got this. We can be confident of his love for us, because after all, as verse 14 tells us: “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” God loved us so much he became man by sending us his son, Jesus. No matter what the year throws at us, we can have His peace.

Most importantly, verse 12 reminds us that anyone who believes in His name is given the right to become a child of God. How amazing! What’s even better – we don’t have to earn that right. In fact, we cannot earn it. Verse 13 goes on to say that these children were “born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of men, but of God.” We don’t do anything. We receive a gift.

Peace

Knowing that anyone who receives Jesus, who believes in His name, has salvation, is the key to peace. That takes away my anxieties when I remember that. Let’s remind ourselves often this year, that whatever we face, we face as children of the Living God, who came to Earth to be with us, and who loves us so much that “from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.” This is how we can be happy in 2024!