For he says, “At the acceptable time I have listened to you, and helped you on the day of salvation.” Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
2 Corinthians 6:2
Christ is Born! Glorify Him!
For the past several years in the parish where I serve, we’ve encouraged parishioners to choose a word to define their year. Instead of making New Years’ resolutions that most people not only won’t keep but won’t even remember, we’ve got people focused on the concept of choosing one word to define their year. (This concept is based on a book entitled “My One Word: Change Your Life with Just One Word,” by Mike Ashcraft.) Likewise, we choose one word as a parish to define our year. For 2024, the word for our parish was “commit.” And throughout the year, we discussed various ways that we can “commit” ourselves to the Lord, to serving in our parish, to serving one another, and how our parish can best serve in the community. We talked about how to “commit” even when times are difficult. And then we endured two hurricanes in the Tampa Bay area where I serve and we had our idea of “commit” tested. It was amazing to see people rally in their families after suffering personal loss, to see people in our parish rally together to help out after our church was damaged, and to see people outside of our parish, including many of you on the Prayer Team, rally around us and send financial support which was distributed to those who had been most affected. Indeed, to “commit” to loving God and serving our neighbor, even the neighbor we don’t know, was evident in the response to the hurricanes that hit the southeast back in September and October. And as we close 2024, thank you again for every gesture of prayer, support and encouragement that we received.
Looking forward to 2025, spend the next couple of days thinking about a word that can define your year. It might be a heavy concept, like trust, or faith. Or it might be a practical one. One year someone whose the word “water” as a reminder to drink more water each day. When people make many resolutions, they struggle to keep any of them. Focusing on just one word, a word that you can remember and check in with every day, will help us improve in at least one area of life.
The one-word concept can be extended beyond just ourselves. In our parish, for 2025, our word is BUILD. We are working on a project entitled “Arise and BUILD” which will begin in 2025 and will include expansion of our church and updating of our facilities. The word BUILD will be about more than just a construction project. We will seek to BUILD on our faith, BUILD up the membership in our community, and BUILD up the number of ministries that serve our community and beyond it as well. The ultimate goal of any church community is to BUILD up the body of Christ and that is the number one goal with this one-word.
The idea of one-word guiding the year can be extended to our families. You can pick a word to define your family for 2025. It can be used in any group to which you belong. In our parish, we encourage ministries to choose a word for themselves—the Parish Council, the Sunday school teachers, etc. Your office staff might choose a word, or your company, your classroom if you are a teacher or your team if you are a coach. The one-word becomes a source of focus, and also a rallying cry when things don’t go quite right.
The one-word becomes something a family can check in with around the dinner table, or the staff at a meeting, or a team before a practice or a game. And if somewhere along the way, you forget to use the word or haven’t been faithful about checking in with it, it’s not like you’ve got to remember a whole list of things you didn’t do, or feel bad about not having done them. Just pick up again with the one word. For instance, using the aforementioned example of the word “water.” If someone chose that word because they want to make sure they drink enough water each day, if a month goes by and one hasn’t been doing that, they can start over at any time, on any day.
Another helpful hint is to choose a Bible verse to accompany your word. For our Arise and BUILD campaign, we are using Nehemiah 2:18, which reads “’Let us arise and BUILD!’ So they strengthened their hands for the good work.” Even though there is one word, BUILD, that will define our year, this verse has so many different elements to compliment the one word. To “arise” means to get going. It’s more than thinking or hoping, it is doing, it is action. “Strengthened” is a state of being. It also denotes action. It means taking something one already has and making it stronger. It doesn’t mean that one is weak if one is strengthening something. It means one has something and wants to make it better. “Their” points to a collective effort, not an individual accomplishment. Just about anything worthwhile we do in life takes the effort of some kind of community. “Hands” in the book of Nehemiah referred to the manual labor of rebuilding a city. Some people involved in this project will use minds, others voices, others wallets, and others hands. Everyone will need to use something. And finally “good work” is different than just “work” because good work honors God, it is Godly work. Again, choose a Bible verse to supplement your word and help you define that word and bring it into a clearer and more practical focus.
Lord, thank You for the gift of this year that is coming to a close. As we embark on a new year, help me embark on a new journey of spiritual renewal. Bring a word and a verse into my mind and heart so that I can focus on that this year, and give me the strength to be bold in the face of a world that in so many ways seeks to take us away from You. Amen.
Choose a word for 2025. Write it down and keep it in places you’ll see it. Share it with others. Choose words to define some of your relationships or groups. For your personal word, let that be your focus for 2025. Check in with it daily. Choose a Bible verse to accompany your word. And may that verse be your rallying cry for 2025. Have a blessed rest of 2024 and a Happy New Year 2025!
