Of the dates and times we celebrate, there are elements of paganism in most of it. Not really surprising. We follow a Judaeo-Christian theology. The Jewish faith started out in a relatively small area. They were supposed to spread their faith, but they did not, so it didn’t spread much beyond Palestine until they were over run and carried off into captivity to other countries. By that time, other areas had established their own religions and beliefs. Those beliefs began to creep into the Jewish faith. By the time of Christ, pagan beliefs were everywhere. As Christianity grew, people threw off the old pagan beliefs and embraced Christianity. But, there were still some elements of paganism that remained. They are easy to see in our celebrations of Easter and Christmas. Because pagan beliefs varied from place to place, the manner in which we celebrate these holidays now have variations. As an example, in Eastern Europe in the days before Christianity spread there, it was believed that at midnight on the winter solstice the animals would all have the gift of speech for a short while. This was incorporated into the Christian faith, but it became at midnight on Christmas Eve. As a little boy I heard about this and one Christmas Eve I grabbed the cat when I went to my bedroom. At midnight I began talking to Dusty, fully expecting him to talk back. While he enjoyed the attention, he really had nothing to say. Hard for a little boy to be disappointed on Christmas Eve, but I was, a little.

          When these pagan practices become our emphasis in our celebrations, we are in trouble. When we make Christ the central part of our celebration, we do well.

          New Year’s is like this. Firmly based in paganism, it is yet something that we have to observe. Unlike our religious celebrations, the change of the year is something we have to have. This has been recognized from the beginning of time in every culture. The beginning of a new year just naturally gives itself over to the making of resolutions to better ourselves. So long as we keep it realistic, this is not a bad thing.

          The ancient Babylonians are said to have been the first people to make New Year’s resolutions, some 4,000 years ago. They were also the first to hold recorded celebrations in honor of the new year, though for them the year began not in January but in mid-March, when the crops were planted. During a massive 12-day religious festival known as Akitu, that typically ended on the Spring Equinox, the Babylonians crowned a new king if one was needed, or reaffirmed their loyalty to the reigning king. The country could have been leaderless for nearly a full year, but their tradition did not allow for the new king, even with the death of the old king, until the spring equinox. They also made promises to the gods to pay their debts and return any objects they had borrowed. These promises could be considered the forerunners of our New Year’s resolutions. If the Babylonians kept to their word, their gods would bestow favor on them for the coming year. If not, they would fall out of the gods’ favor—a place no one wanted to be.

          In ancient Rome Julius Caesar felt the need to mess with the existing calendar. Most of our months now are named for either Roman gods or Roman emperors. Julius established our calendar pretty much the way it is now, except they started the calendar at the beginning of the Roman republic. Centuries later, the Pope in Rome continued with the months, but started the calendar at the moment of the birth of Jesus. Anyway, Julius made the new year to start on January 1. The reason for this was because January was named for the god Janus, the two-faced god whose spirit inhabited doorways and arches. Passing under a bridge, a traveler would see a face engraved on one side of the bridge and a different face on the other side, but it was the same god Janus on both sides. January had special significance for the Romans. They believed that Janus symbolically looked backwards into the previous year and ahead into the future. Because of this, the Romans offered sacrifices to the deity and made promises of good conduct for the coming year.

          It took centuries for this to become a religious celebration for Christians. In 1740, the English clergyman John Wesley, founder of Methodism, created the Covenant Renewal Service, most commonly held on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day. Also known as watch night services, they included readings from Scriptures and hymn singing, and served as a spiritual alternative to the raucous celebrations normally held to celebrate the coming of the new year. To me, this is funny. As a young man I was a part of a very strict, legalistic style of Christianity. They really believed that if you didn’t believe as they did, you would go to Hell. They seemed to particularly despise the Southern Baptists and the Methodist. Every New Year’s Eve we would have what they called a Watch Night Service, in which we would pray in the new year. They had no idea they were walking the path of John Wesley. After I left there and pursued my education in the South, I became a Southern Baptist. Hardly anyone in my ‘home’ church would talk to me after that and most still do not. Back to point, Watch Night services are not practiced now as much as they used to be. To me, that is a good idea. The roads are not really safe on New Year’s Eve because the holiday is typically celebrated with a great deal of drinking.

          Regardless of its origins, the year is about to change. Maybe you will make a resolution to lose weight. What usually happens with that is you lose a little, you gain a little and you wind up pretty close to the same. Maybe you are going to resolve to spend more time with family, but that is a struggle that is hard to win, too. We make resolutions to better ourselves and to benefit those around us. We do this because we really do want it to be better. However, so much of what we want is dependent on others to do what is right. That is where it gets sticky.

          As Christians, though, we can make it better. Think about how your life would be altered if you spent just fifteen minutes a day more in reading the Bible. Think about how your life would be altered if you spent just fifteen minutes a day more in praying. Think about how your life would be altered if you would bring the Lord into the decision making process of your life. Think about how your life would be altered if you would bring the Lord into your conversation with someone just once a week. Not talking about your church, but talking about your Lord. This is a new year. We don’t need to make great, sweeping resolutions. Those are very hard to keep. What we need to do is make little, positive changes in how we act Spiritually in the world. The little changes are easy but have the greatest impact.

          So, Happy New Year. Just do not waste it.