The New Years Fairy

Isaiah 56: 1-8, Psalm 90:1-12, Ephesians 5: 15-20

New Years Eve 2011

The week before Christmas I started thinking about New Years. I have to do that or the rest of the staff involved in worship preparation gets really backed up – so I try to allow for reasonable lead time. But, I found my inspiration bucket empty. So, I got a copy of last years order of worship to see if that would start my creative juices flowing – no luck. So, I resorted to what every twenty-first century preacher does when they hit a dry spell, I went to the internet. I Googled “New Years Eve” and guess what popped up? A movie entitled “New Years Eve.” So, I took the afternoon off to see the movie. It was a thoroughly entertaining “feel good” movie and I went away satisfied but not particularly inspired sermonicaly – except by the opening proclamation of the movie that New Years Eve is the one time in the year when the whole world comes together – around hope and love, forgiveness and second chances.

I hadn’t thought about that. Religious holidays are not universally observed or national holidays. The fourth of July in most of the world is just a date, but Cinco de Mayo if you are Mexican, or in the Philippines the Fourth of July is on June 12th.

Two years ago when I cruised the footsteps of Paul in Greece and Turkey we docked in a town in Turkey just across from the Island of Patmos, for a little tourist shopping. I noticed that the park was decorated for something but had no idea what. Then, at 9:30 am, a song began to play over the loud speakers. The whole town stopped. Shop keepers came to the front doors of their shops. A taxi cab stopped near me, the driver and the occupants got our and stood reverently facing the music. So, I did too. When it was over I asked the cab driver what that was all about in my clumsy American Sign Language and speaking in a loud sort of way. He looked at me as if I were from another planet and said, “Autoturk Day.” Was I supposed to know that? Is he supposed to know about Independence Day, or Armistice Day, or Thanksgiving. In Hawaii, everything is closed on Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Day and King Kamehameha Day, and Chinese New Year. The only date observed by every nation and culture is New Years Eve.

And it remains amazingly unsullied by the wear. I am frankly a bit tired of God Bless America. And I would be very happy to have a Christmas without being subjected to “Winter Wonderland” or “Sleigh Ride.” Even Handel’s “Messiah” is getting a little freighted around the edges. But, “Auld Lang Syne” Still fills me with warmth and pleasant nostalgia. Its rhetorical question is timeless, “Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?”

That’s the question addressed by the movie in a series of vignettes all taking place in New York City on New Years Eve. Since the answer is a foregone, “certainly not,” the movie explores what it takes for people to reconnect, with old acquaintances, dimming loves, damaged relationships – and with life itself.

A woman is working on her New Years resolution list when a currier comes with a special delivery package. He remarks about how long her list is and it is soon apparent that it is long because she is too fearful to risk any of the items on her list – more of a bucket list than resolutions.

She works for a record company and the package contains tickets to a huge concert coming up that has been sold out for months. The currier is amazed by the sight of them and would obviously give anything for them. So she issues a challenge, he can have the tickets if he will help her accomplish everything on her list before midnight – things like a trip to Bali and a New York cab ride with no traffic. Going to be a pretty busy evening.

In fact everyone in the story is busy, most are late, too late to waste time connecting with people. But, a car breaks down and an elevator gets stuck and people find the time to connect and reflect.

Even the ball gets stuck. There it hangs, half lit and half way up the pole. It’s a poignant metaphor. Time is on hold while they get the ball fixed. A moment for reflection. New Years Eve isn’t just about rushing on to next year; it’s about taking stock of last year. Promises made, to yourself or others. What about last year’s resolutions. If you had it over would you do it different? Are you going to do this coming year different?

What does it take? The message is universal. Hope, love, forgiveness, the courage to re-engage with life and to risk the unknown laying aside your well earned cynicism. And perhaps it all has a ring of authenticity because it isn’t connected to any religion or cultural tradition – not even a personification. There is no argument like Christmas, is it about Jesus or Santa Claus? Is it the resurrection or the Easter bunny. There is no New Years Fairy. All there is, is us. Will you kiss or be kissed by a stranger at midnight? You will get no help from Cupid on that, he doesn’t show up until February. No Mother Nature or Father Christmas in sight. Will you place yourself in a place where such things can happen or not. It’s yours to make happen - or not.

“Teach us to measure our days that we might get a heart of wisdom.” For one of the characters in the story, this is his last New Years Eve. Regrets abound. For another it is the first - blessed with complete innocence and oblivious to everything except mother’s milk and the warm touch of her skin.

No one has been able to usurp New Years Eve. Not Dick Clark, Not even Guy Lombardo, who once was quoted as saying, when I die I’m taking New Years Eve with me. Well, he did, and he didn’t. If you poll the current population fewer than half would be able to tell you who Guy Lombardo was, but they have real plans for this evening. Maybe to be kissed at midnight, perhaps for the first time, perhaps for the last.

And we Christians, we remember that life is a good gift of God and every breath draws us closer to the real New Year, the year of the Lord’s favor. And I realized as I left the theater that the message of this secular and universal holiday is exactly the same as the one we Christians profess – that life is about hope, love, forgiveness and second chances. In fact, the God who has been revealed to us has made himself known in precisely those terms. The holiday has universal acceptance because it has no ethnic or religious connections. Isn’t it just like God to get his message in in spite of our societal sensitivities?

I saw a story about a Christmas program at a public third grade school. Of course they had to be careful about religious references being a public school. The program was called “Christmas Love.” Each child held up a letter and they recited a poem about that letter – “C” is for cheer and “H” is for home, etc. But when they got to the “M” the child held it upside-down. The audience giggled but she didn’t

budge. So when they had all finished, the message spelled out across the stage was, “Christ Was Love.” Oops!

We Christians couldn’t be more pleased with the New Year celebration. If people are really looking for hope, love, forgiveness and second chances this New Year, it won’t be long until they bump into the personification of that grand formula – the Christ who came to be the harbinger of the kingdom where those virtues are the order of the day.

So we disciples of the one who is hope, love, forgiveness and second chances take once again the hand of the One who promised to walk with us through this amazing adventure, part garden, part mine field, and we engage life and all its possibilities one more time. Happy New Year!