Sermon Tone Analysis

Welcome to the New Year!

The Year of Our Lord 2023

which means about 2,029 years after the birth of Jesus, or about 1990 years after His resurrection.

This year, like every year, presents us

A New Opportunity to Write the Date Wrong

on your checks, your letters, and your school work.

A New Opportunity to Count Down to Christmas

which is 5 days away if you are an Orthodox, Greek-speaking church.

For most of us, Christmas 2023 is only 358 days away.

Better get your bills paid so you can start your shopping.

Like every year, this gives us

A New Opportunity to Break Promises

to ourselves or others.

You know, that thing we used to call “resolutions.”

Promises we make that we usually have no ability to follow through on, either because we promise the stars and deliver a string of Christmas lights or because we either don’t have the means or the discipline to keep our own promises to ourselves.

And, like every year, January First gives us

A New Opportunity to Do Better Than Before

because defeat is not inevitable, as long as we remember why we made the promises in the first place.

And today, unique among all the other January 1sts I have lived through, which is now 70, I have

The Privilege of

Celebrating the 25th Anniversary

of the beginning of my Pastoral ministry in Covina, in Southern California.

25th Anniversaries or Birthdays remind us that something significant happened a quarter of a century ago.

On the 25th anniversary of my birth, I was working as a line cook in the restaurant kitchen at the Inn of the Seventh Mountain on the slopes, of Mt.

Bachelor outside of Bend, Oregon.

On the 25th anniversary of our wedding, Bobbi and I were celebrating with church family in Vernon, British Colombia.

On the 25th anniversary of my Son’s birth, we were 6 weeks away from wrapping up 5 years of ministry in that church in British Colombia.

On the 25th anniversary of my Daughter’s birth, we were already moved in and had been ministering 7 weeks here in Covina.

So, for those of you old enough,

Where Were You on Your 25th?

Anniversary or 25th birthday?

Or 25th anniversary of your best job ever?

The Bible reminds us that

Every Day is Holy Unto the Lord

every day is a holy day unto the Lord, with Sabbath days marked off weekly to give special attention to worship and rest.

one more thing that the Bible says is important about

Weekly Worship

shows the rest of the world that we have chosen to behave like we are the Children of God.

Marking a Sabbath Day each week is a reminder to us that

God Cares About Our Well-Being

and so we should copy his pattern of hard work and renewing rest.

God’s Love Abounds to Us in His Word

and that includes his patterns of seasons and weather and new moons and changing skies and all the rest.

A New Year Reminds Us that

God Sets the Seasons for Living

We are tempted to want only the good things, in our estimation, and not the hard things.

The Preacher, the writer of Ecclesiastes, we believe to be King Solomon, tells us the two sides of any issue are part of the wholeness of life.

We can’t exist with only the positive and not the negative.

Life doesn’t work that way.

Life is Not In Our Control

Life Itself Shows Our Limits

If we get stuck on Verse 9, we get stuck in life.

If we see past just breathing, we can move on to truly live in the love of God.

The Seasons of Life Prove God Cares

God Wants Us to Live Well

Knowing God Gives Purpose to Living

At first the verse seems out of order.

We should labor well to be able to eat, drink, and enjoy.

My grandfather would read this verse and tell me that Work, the ability and the outcome, is the gift of God.

We have both

Occupation and Vocation.

Every person has something they do to occupy their time and make use of their efforts.

Many find the calling that God has given on their lives — and that vocation, that calling, gives meaning to cycles of living.

Here’s another reading of that last verse:

For God does not give us just busy work.

God Gives Life Meaning

Because God wants us to finally, and forever, experience the true life that God himself enjoys in eternity.

That gateway to heaven is the purpose of Christ’s life and salvation.

Christ opens the way for our

Eternal Life with God.

The Sea: Choas

The Holy City, Shined Up and Glorious

His Plan is for Us

To Be With God Forever

So the Same Old World will be no more.

When All Things Are New

The Work if Christ is Finished