Daily Lesson for January 1, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Luke chapter 2 verse 21:

After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Today's is New Year's Day and the day known as The Holy Name of Jesus or, in the old liturgy of the Church, as the Circumcision of Christ. It was on this the eighth day that Jesus was circumcised and named.

Eight has an important meaning in Christianity. It is the number of new beginnings and new creation. The eighth day marks the beginning of a new week. Eight was the number of those saved during the Flood in the Ark. And it is purported that Jesus appeared eight times in the flesh after the resurrection (that's a matter of dispute.). Jesus was also circumcised and named on the eighth day -- January 1 in the Gregorian calendar, the first day of the New Year.

On January 1, this eighth day after Christmas, we have the chance to start again with a new beginning. The old has passed and the new has come. This is why one of the readings for the Day is from Exodus 34, where after having broken the first set of the Commandments, Moses cuts two more stone tablets in covenant with God. Jesus was cut on the eight day also, a sign of new covenant. All this points to a day of new beginnings, of brokenness and restoration.

New Year's Day is a day for reflection and for promise. It is a day for letting go of what was and embracing what is to come. It is a day of solemn remembrance of all that was and was lost or was not and should have been. And, more importantly, it is a day for embracing what can yet still be.

God did leave Moses with only the broken stones of a broken covenant. God commanded Moses to make another covenant. And so we make ours too.

"What is man that God is mindful of him?" the psalmist asks.

And then the answer:

"God has made us a little lower than the angels;

Adorned with glory and honor;

And given mastery over the works of our hands;

And all things put under our feet."

It's a new year. Yes, there is much to lament of the old. We made plenty of mistakes, and even failed miserably in certain aspects. Perhaps we even failed morally. But the new day is given, with new beginnings possible. A second chance is ours.

Let's take it . . .

Ryon Price is the Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.