New Year’s Eve comes but once a year on December 31, the last day of the last month of what usually feels like the longest year ever, especially with this traitor to our nation in office, but somehow, it passed too quickly. Most of us give little thought as to why we ceremoniously say goodbye to one year and hello to a new one on December 31.
Even those who don’t make special plans to greet the arrival of a new year at the stroke of midnight on December 31 pay homage to the rite with thoughts of the year gone by and hopes for the year to come and for God to move and put our rightful president (Trump) back in office and it will happen this year.
Why do we end each year on December 31 and begin a new one on January 1 anyway?
As we end this year I want to do something a little different than normal. Instead of thinking of all the hardships we went through this year, lets write down all the good that God did for us this year. I am sure once you write it down you will see how good God has been to you.
New Year’s Eve on December 31 marks the final day of what is known as a Gregorian calendar year. Prior to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar as the global standard, most of the ancient world ran on many different and diverse calendaring systems to track the passage of time.
The Gregorian calendar we use today was introduced by the Vatican in Rome under Pope Gregory XIII in October 1582. The Gregorian calendar is based on the solar year and replaced an ancient Roman calendar that was based on the lunar cycle of the earth’s moon. The Gregorian calendar is a modified version of the Julian calendar that was introduced by Roman Emperor Julius Caesar during his reign around 44 B.C., at the suggestion of Greek astronomer and mathematician Sosigenes of Alexandria.
The transition from a lunar cycle calendar to a solar year calendar on October 4, 1582, necessitated that a few days be eliminated. The day after October 4, 1582, was therefore declared by Pope Gregory to be October 15, 1582. Don’t ask us what happened to all the poor souls whose birthdays were on October 5 to 14.
Along with the implementation of a new calendar on October 4, 1582, the pope also decreed that each year would officially begin on January 1 instead of April 1 as had been the custom under the old lunar calendar system. This decision had no actual astronomical basis and was influenced by the ancient feast celebrating the Roman god Janus, the god of doorways and beginnings. The first of January seemed like a good starting-over point on a new calendar.
New Year’s Eve is widely celebrated by everyone who follows the Gregorian calendar, but not all people ring in the new year the same way or, in some cases, even on the same day.
In the Hebrew Calendar it is actually 5784.
Help Us Enter the New Year
God of all time, help us enter the New Year quietly,
thoughtful of who we are to ourselves and to others,
mindful that our steps make an impact
and our words carry power.
May we walk gently.
May we speak only after we have listened well.
Creator of all life,
help us enter the New Year reverently,
aware that you have endowed
every creature and plant, every person and habitat
with beauty and purpose.
May we regard the world with tenderness.
May we honor rather than destroy.
Lower of all souls,
help us enter the New Year joyfully,
willing to laugh and dance and dream,
remembering our many gifts with thanks
and looking forward to blessings yet to come.
May we welcome your lavish love.
In this new year, may the grace and peace of Christ bless us now and in the days ahead.
God Bless You and Your Families in this New Year! Let’s pray for America and for President Trump.
Love,
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