Like the sun going down in the evening and coming up in the morning, every year ends and a new one begins. There is a ritual around this for us. We look back over the year, both forgetting some events and remembering others. We celebrate with fireworks or quiet dinners. We review our calendars; add it all up and weigh the good with the bad, and are often left with mixed emotions. Some of us can remember entire years that really took a toll on us. Other times we look back and wish we could repeat the year, now over.

A new Year offers the promise of new beginnings; of deciding what is most important to us, and of making a commitment to invest in whatever it is. It might be dreaming of a new house, or a job with more income, or a special vacation. There are those who decide to make a new commitment to a relationship, with a parent, a child, a friend or someone from our past, where a change of heart is needed. Such decisions signal the importance of relationships that need our attention; a realization that if we don’t make a move now, some day it will be too late.

The New Year, like any new start, offers the opportunity to make some changes in ourselves. Others may try to change us, or even less successful, we may try to change another, but the only hopeful solution is if we decide to change ourselves. This is not done with the proverbial resolution list that almost always ends up as a disappointment within the first month. I mean unrealistic goals; like losing 30 pounds in 30 days; finding the dream job that fits all our needs; or quitting our jobs and traveling around the world. All are ideas that are disappointment bound. Such a list is more effective at making us unhappy with ourselves than creating fulfillment.

Starting a new year, gives us the hope of a new start. It is a clean slate where we can look inside for joy and satisfaction, instead of externally. Will we repeat the same expectations, behaviors and routines we did last year, or will we consider there could be a new creation within us? That is what God promises us. Do we notice any transformation within us over the last year? Will we insist on staying the same, or be open to new possibilities? The choice is ours.

This year I have enjoyed the Christmas cards of friends and family that describe that kind of growth. One drew my attention in particular, this year. Their cards had always centered around the doings of their children and grandchildren. But this year it focused on all the new areas they were developing. There had been a sudden surgery, but they wrote what they had learned from it. One of them decided to begin dulcimer lessons. They had traveled to new places that opened new doors of learning for them. All of it brimmed with the celebration of their lives, both individually and together. We all have those "waiting to be developed" areas in our lives, and when it happens, it is like opening a Christmas present, where we find discover a new creation within us.

In telling the Christmas story we heard the words of the angel Gabriel; "Nothing is impossible with God." We forget those words; we think a relationship is hopeless. We believe that we cannot change. We tell ourselves that these stories do not pertain to us; but they do.

I believe there can be a sense of new growth, new excitement, new life, in living our lives no matter what our age. We can practice using a negative outlook on life or break out of such a habit. We can give up on a relationship, or we can finally turn to God and say, "I’ve done everything I know; can you help?" We can dread the transitions in our lives or look for the opportunities they can provide. Now transitions can be smooth or rough, but either way, we can come out stronger, healthier people. Our identity has shifted. We are no longer who we were.

Many of you have experienced the transition of moving from a home of many years to a new place. Some of you this year have decided to down size and move into a more manageable living space. While others of you have made a decision to upgrade to a new place that is larger. Some of you have welcomed a new baby, or a new son or daughter in law; events that will shape your family forever. Some of you have launched into new jobs, while others have retired from the work you have done for many years. Some of you have graduated from school and others have just begun a new education. None of us are in the same place now, as we were a year ago. We are not the same people. And this is God’s plan. All of these transitions in our lives are major milestones that shape and change us.

At this time of year, we try to make sense of the year that is passing and wonder what the new year will bring. Whatever the last year has brought in the joy and suffering department, we have survived; and we are a new creation.

During Advent, we listened to the Angel visits, with Joseph, Zechariah, Mary and the shepherds, all announcing the news of new life; not just for them but for the world. When a message comes our way will we listen or dismiss it as foolishness? Here in Hebrews there is a shift; a new year; a new beginning. No longer are the angels the messengers. The primary messenger now, is Jesus. Jesus came in a human form so that we might be connected to God in new ways; so that we might experience the joy intended for us; so that new life could be born in us too.

The Good News, God’s message, is that in a world of increasing isolation and alienation, God is the one who knows how we feel. Instead of waking up on Jan. 1^st and saying, "Well, I am still lonely and nobody cares", as believers we can say there is someone who cares, who knows our grief and celebrates our joys. There is a God who sends messengers to us of hope. There is a God who can fix relationships when we cannot. It is this God, for whom nothing is impossible. God knows what we need before we do and is always busy making a place for and in us. God knows our deep need for relationship and has given us the church, so that we might know this love for us through Jesus.

We do not live on an island without any other human beings. We live in villages, cities, small towns, reservations, where we are in community with others. We are wired with a deep yearning to be connected to others. More than any other gift, we yearn for someone who loves us, for who we are. Despite our behavior, down deep, we know our relationships are of more value than any of the gifts under our tree. And this passage screams relationship; rich fulfilling, meaningful relationships, that God wants with us, and for us. But it doesn’t just happen automatically.

The words in this passage lift up the importance of relationship: father, brothers and sisters, children. It is an important message, yet we disregard it. Consider the news over the last month, let alone this year, where life was not valued. A young male, angry from being rejected, sprays bullets on whomever he sees, killing others and eventually killing himself. Children have been the target of violence and abuse in Iraq, Darfur, and yes, here in Denver. Even college campuses are no longer places of safety. Parents, stressed out themselves, are buying more entertainment products for their children, in exchange for less time with them. People who study these things say we are creating a generation of kids who are more isolated, obese from inactivity, and interested only in themselves.

How is it that we take this life giving, life saving Jesus into our lives in ways that make a difference? Why do we turn away from the Biblical truths telling ourselves that doesn’t apply to me? What prevents us from looking for the teachings of Jesus in our everyday worlds?

Before Christmas Allen and I had the opportunity to see the play "The Diary of Anne Frank". It was the moving and well known story of the 13 year old Jewish girl who lived in an attic in Amsterdam during WWII. She lived with 7 other Jewish people for 27 months, to avoid being killed by the Nazis. She shared this small space with her parents and older sister; another couple and their teenage son, and a dentist. They had only the food that could be brought to them. They could not talk or move during the day, nor ever step outside, for fear of being shot. The family that provided the space could have lost their lives by providing this hiding place. It is the story of the strength of the human spirit; it is a story about the power of faith in the midst of hopelessness. Despite the bleak circumstances and the inevitable tension that occurred, this temporary family nonetheless celebrated Hanukkah together. Anna made gifts of things she found in the attic, bits of yarn, paper, and string, into gifts, bringing a moment of joy to a joyless situation. They sang their faith and laughed that night.

Anna held onto her dream of becoming a writer, keeping a journal of what life was like for her, that we might know too. It was a time in her life when she was coming of age. She was a bubbly teenager, full of life and fun; questions and constant chatter. She used who she was to connect with the others. At one low point, one of the men, desperate for food, was caught stealing bread from the general cache. There was shouting and anger and he was asked to leave. A death sentence for sure. But it was Anna’s father who intervened, quieting the group by saying, "Stop. He could not help it. We are not ourselves. We must not send him away. He could die." Even at that dark moment the love of God superceded.

Like all of us, each of them had their strengths and weaknesses. But in the end, all contributed something for the survival of the group. All of them put the family they had become, first. It was remarkable under such circumstances. This wasn’t a Jewish story; it was the human story. This is the message of not only Christmas, but of what we believe all year round. Relationships are gifts of God. It is Jesus teaching us how to love.

Jesus came to us in such an unexpected way. He was born as a baby, just like we were. Like most of us, he was born in humble ways, not in a palace. He came as the majority of us do to this world.

He was many things to all who encountered him. He cared about the children, talking with them, being with them and listening to them.

Jesus cared about our suffering and spent time healing in groups or alone with those who needed him.

He was a counselor, listening, caring, and talking with those who struggled in life. And others trusted him with what they shared.

Jesus was a preacher, sharing what he knew about God and inviting them to believe. People knew his truth was profound. He was like none other.

Jesus knew his destiny and he trusted God. He died on a cross that we might never be separated from God again. He died that we might be saved, even from death itself.

Most of all Jesus is superior to anyone or anything else. There is nothing higher than Jesus. He is the Son of God; he came as God in a human form that we might see and believe. He is the Mighty God; Lord and giver of all life.

All he did, he is still doing. All he said then, he is still saying to us today. It is in these dimensions that we can look and find Jesus in our lives today. Even in a play about a Jewish group living as family, one could see God shining through their tragedy. You and I see God too.

You know what I mean; it has happened to you; the glimpse of Jesus in a child’s face. Hearing his voice in the music of Christmas; feeling his arm around you in a kind act from an unsuspecting person. We can feel him when walking through the snow amidst the twinkle of Christmas lights. We hear him speaking to us through one who cares about us. We hear him in the night when we awaken thinking of another.

Jesus was not just a baby who grew up to be a kind man. He was not just a teacher, or a prophet, or one who heals, or a preacher, who explains the mystery of God to us. Jesus was all these things and more.

Jesus has many names. Eugene Peterson calls him The Salvation Pioneer, because above all, he came that we might have life. The One who saves and the ones who are saved, are linked in a common origin. We know Jesus is the Savior because it was God himself who validated him through signs and miracles. Jesus was not like any other man. He was not a magician. He healed those who had not been cured and he raised the dead to life again. It was through his death that the power of death over us was erased. Death is not the last word. In Jesus, not only the promise but the reality of eternal life is now for all who believe. Jesus is all things to all people.