Happy New Year!

Today is Rosh Hashanah - the Jewish New Year. Somehow it seems a much more appropriate time to celebrate a new year than our usual calendar year celebration of January 1. But this whole idea of "new year" has me thinking of how much our lives are ruled by the calendar.

In the church our new year is the 1st Sunday of Advent - either the Sunday after Thanksgiving or (as it is this year) the first Sunday in December. That doesn't make much sense as a "new year" celebration either.

When I was teaching, the "new year" for me always meant the beginning of a new school year. In my life now, "new year" is what comes to mind when I think of Rally Sunday, or in other words, the beginning of a new program year of Sunday School, confirmation classes, etc. Maybe that's why Rosh Hashanah seems more appropriate to me than our New Year's Day.

Birthdays are also a way of thinking of a new year. It's a new year of life. Or if married, an anniversary is a new year of life together. All kinds of goals get set, or dreams somehow become dashed as we realize how much we have not accomplished. That's what new years are about right? Setting new goals, beginning new programs, making resolutions.

I say we don't let calendar dates rule our idea of the "new year." After all, isn't every day the beginning of a new year? Every day we can think of what lies ahead, and try to let go of what has gone before. I'm not saying I'll be any good at that, but hey, it's a new goal to set, right?