As Christians, we are used to abstaining from a vast array of worldly things. We are called to be different, and we are hyper-aware of it. We know that modern society is deviating further and further away from the message of Christ. Whether it be through the rise of the LBGTQ+ movement or things like puberty blockers and gender reassignment therapy being pushed on today’s children and youth, we can see the devil slowly imprinting himself everywhere.
Despite us knowing the absolute evil in our world today, we still have to fit in society somehow. And it’s a real struggle. However, we have latched onto the notion of New Year’s resolutions. Every December, we devise for ourselves a ridiculous set of goals and aspirations for the new year and inevitably fail most of them. But then next December comes, and we do the same again, promising ourselves that next year will be different. Regardless of our successes or failures, the idea of New Year’s resolutions is a positive. Improving yourself as a person is always beneficial. Recognising one’s shortcomings shows a high level of emotional maturity.
A few weeks ago, we celebrated the Coptic New Year. And I didn’t make any resolutions. El Nayrouz is one of the most beautiful events in the church calendar, where we celebrate the martyrs of the church. The remembrance of the saints provides us with courage, knowing that these men and women endured atrocities that the human body was not designed to withstand. We often perceive the saints, especially the martyrs, to have an unattainable degree of holiness, but in reality, they were merely human. Saint Moses the Black was a murderer and Saint Paul had made it his mission to eradicate all Christians at one point. Even Peter denied Christ three times. These people went on to become some of the most revered saints in our church. This highlights to us one simple thing- it is never too late to turn to Christ.
So, let’s make our New Year’s resolutions. Let’s all work on ourselves like we are inevitably going to do in 2-3 months. But this time, let’s change it slightly. With the help of our confession fathers, let’s do something our priests mention every other sermon. Let’s develop a spiritual canon. Pray. Read the Bible. Serve. Listen to sermons. None of these things are new. We all know that we should do them, but sometimes we don’t. Laziness, forgetfulness, business, whatever. It honestly doesn’t matter.
I’ll leave off with a quote from Saint Paul (as you do):
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17)