Happy New Year

I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year, 'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown..'

Those words, part of a poem by Minnie Louise Haskins, were used by King George VI as part of his Christmas message in 1939. At that time, the country was at war; fears and  worries were many; who knew what the New Year would bring.

2026: another New Year has dawned. The country is not at war but the world situation is uncertain; fears and worries are still many and we do not know what this year will bring.

Every New Year is, however, a time of hopes, be those hopes personal or wider. Why, else, do we make resolutions, plans to better our attitudes or our lives? Some would argue that September is a more appropriate time for new beginnings, the start of the educational year. The church year begins on Advent Sunday. Yet the beginning of January is the time when we wish each other a happy, healthy peaceful year.

Let us go back to that speech of King George VI and use that as our prayer for the coming year. May we heed those words, in our own lives and in our spiritual thinking.

Put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way. Amen.