This year skip New Years Resolutions. All they do is give you a bad conscience.

This year skip New Years Resolutions. All they do is give you a bad conscience.

A happy new year to all of you. I hope and pray that all your wishes and hopes for the new year will come true to some degree. Even better if God sends new goals, hopes, and dreams that you might find meaningful. The New Year is usually the time when you make new year’s resolutions. Lose weight, go to the gym, read more, watch TV less, take care of yourself and of others. From the bottom of my heart, I implore you: please forget about New Year’s resolutions. Forget about them, scrap them, simply don’t do it. A New Year’s resolution never changed anything. On New Year’s Eve, you are excited about what your new life will hold. Two weeks in, business as usual will take over and all that is left of your New Year’s resolutions is a bad aftertaste and a slightly bad conscience. But, of course, renewal is a constant hope in the Christian life. However, Christian renewal is not tied to a specific date like New Year’s Eve. God’s restorative power is at work all year round. What helps you stay open to God’s message all year long?

Rev. Olaf Baumann, sermon, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Port Angeles WA.