Happy Holy Name!

Uh, isn't it, "Happy New Year"? Well yes, but Happy Holy Name works too. Today is New Year's Eve, a time of resolutions and new hopes and starting over. It is also the Eve of the Feast of the Holy Name, on which we remember that eight days after his birth, in accordance with the Jewish Law, Joseph and Mary had their son circumcised and named him Jesus, which means, "God saves."

Of course, this particular New Year's is the end of a decade. It marks a major turn in our historical time, but not as major as that turn we celebrated ten years ago, the end of one millennium and the beginning of another. Do you remember a joyous sense of optimism as we turned from the 1900s to what seemed like the magical "2000?" Of course, we were leaving a decade that seems destined to go down in history as America's "Holiday from History." We had defeated the Soviet Union without firing a single shot, and had managed to avoid nuclear annihilation in the process. We were getting ready to enjoy a "peace dividend" in which we didn't have to spend so much of our national income on the armed forces. We would actually end the decade with a budget surplus. And no other nation dared to challenge us.

Well, it turns out that the bubble was already starting to deflate. The Internet/Tech Bubble burst in 2000 and 2001, shortly to be replaced by the Real Estate Bubble. Our sense of invulnerability was shattered on September 11. We all know well enough the many challenges to our economic and military power that we face today. The New York Times columnist Paul Krugman suggests that this decade be called, "The Big Zero."

But this day, this year, this decade, this century, this millennium, and indeed all time, falls under one name: Jesus – "God saves." The loving purposes of God are not dependent on one nation's Gross Domestic Product, or destructive capability. Over the past two millennia, Empires have collapsed. New Empires have arisen, and fallen. But in the wake of destruction, people have always found new ways to live together and love together, under the name of Him through whom God saves. The risen Christ is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega. All our time belongs to Him, and Jesus will always be there, showing us new things, opening new doors, inspiring new hope.

Our hope is not based on a balance sheet, or conquered territory. Our only hope is based on the baby named, "God saves!" Happy Holy Name!

Eternal Father, you gave to your incarnate Son the holy name of Jesus to be the sign of our salvation: Plant in every heart, we pray, the love of him who is the Savior of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.