Today, as usual we attended the Vietnamese Sunday service of the Saigon congregation. The guest preacher framed his sermon as a biblical challenge for both New Years.
Especially in our Toronto church, with as many as 200 Chinese in the Sunday services, we were always conscious of the Lunar New Year, even while most of us celebrated the Gregorian New Year. The Lunar New Year falls sometime between mid-January and mid-February. Vietnam makes little note of the Gregorian New Year but Vietnamese will celebrate for a week or more when "Tet" arrives this year on February 3rd.
The "New Year" sermon today was on Matthew 6:25 - 34: Wonderful timely words of Jesus for a New Year. Don't worry, don't focus your life on material things. Trust the God who provides in nature for flowers and birds. He cares a great deal more for you. Don't worry about the future - "each day has enough trouble of its own." Focus on things that count beyond this life. "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness."
So a New Year's prayer for you - either belated or premature, depending when you celebrate the New Year. "May you spend little time and energy (none?) worrying and much time actively living for and like Christ Jesus; praying for and helping His Kingdom, His rule to come in this needy world, as it is in Heaven."
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