Nothing New this New Year

by Marvin Bublitz

Well, it has happened once again. With the flip of a page, the calendar went from 2021 to 2022. And so we ask that good Lutheran question: “What does this mean?” Each of us will have a different answer. For some, 2022 will be the year they graduate from high school or university. Others will mark it as the year they were married or welcomed their first child into the world. Some will see the baptism or confirmation of their child. For some, 2022 will be the year a loved one is called from this life.

These are of course the types of things that people experience year after year. Some of you encountered them in 2021. Others will face them in 2022. So, “what does this mean?”

It means exactly what we read in Ecclesiastes 1:9-10: “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, ‘See, this is new’? It has been already in the ages before us.”

I have heard some express wishes and hopes for 2022. This is especially true in these days of COVID-19. Many want to put 2021 (and 2020 for that matter) behind them. But it is foolish to think that a simple flip of a page or the change of a date can bring about a new and different year. There is nothing new under the sun. What was will be.

So what can we realistically expect in 2022? We can expect just what our Lord has told us. People will be marrying and given in marriage as in the days of Noah. The love of many will grow cold. There will be wars and rumours of wars. There will be earthquakes and such in nature. All this as time marches on to the day the Lord will return. It is not a few numbers on a calendar that should occupy our thoughts and dreams, nor is it even events of last year or this year that should occupy our thoughts and dreams.

Let us consider also the greater things—all that has been since the creation of the world. Contemplate the Father preserving His creation. Remember the redemption which the Son, born of the Virgin, brings to that creation. Rejoice in the Holy Spirit bestowing faith and sanctifying His people. So it has been in the ages before us and will also be tomorrow.

In 2022, you can expect and count on the Father preserving you, as He has from before you were even born. You can trust that the Father will continue to preserve His creation in 2022. He loves and cares for His creation. Even when bad things happen to us, He works it for our good.

Creation marches from the Garden paradise to the new paradise of heaven. During that journey, what has been will be, for there is nothing new under the sun. That is what we can expect in 2022.

There is nothing new under the sun; 2022 will bring the same struggles, fears, and sins. We, as God’s people, will fail. We will be short with our spouses, snap at our kids, disrespect our parents and other authorities, gossip about our neighbours, and generally soil our baptismal robes with the filth of our sin. Not that we want to do that. No, like St. Paul we lament our wretched state. But lamenting and feeling sorry about it won’t change it one iota.

Thankfully, there are other things that have been and will be. The Redeemer gave His life-blood to wash us clean of our sinful filth—mercy we receive again and again. What has been will be. When we come to Him in repentance for all those sins, He grants His holy absolution, cleansing us from our sin and iniquity. We can expect and count on the same in 2022. For Jesus Christ is the same last year and this year. His forgiveness is the same.

This year the Holy Spirit will also speak the same faith-creating, life-sustaining Word into our hearing—the Word that is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe. This year the Lord places His body and blood into ours. What has been will be.

As we look ahead to 2022 and all that might be, our focus and hope rests upon our Triune God. It is He Who created us, sustains us, forgives us, and saves us. He is with us all the journey to the Promised Land.

Rev. Marvin Bublitz is Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC)'s East Regional Pastor.