Happy New Year?
Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku, Gelukkig nieuwjaar, Happy New Year, с Новым Годом, щасливого Нового року?
What would you say to a homeless person in Poland? Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku? He is still cold tonight, and food is not easy to find on New Year’s Day. What would you say if you met him on the street today?
What do you say to a refugee from our eastern border? щасливого Нового року? Well, maybe he comes from the Russian part, so would you say с Новым Годом? We spoke to someone today from the “east” and he was quite stressed… because the rockets were flying around on that side of the globe today, and he was in contact with his family all day to see if they were still alive…
What do you say to someone in the Netherlands who has lost someone close to them in the past year? Or perhaps he has lost himself…. Would you say Happy New Year? What is “happy” to begin with?
What do you say to someone who speaks English and has been so incredibly lonely last year, that they no longer know how to move on? Happy New Year? The past year was anything but happy… So if someone said Happy New Year to him… would you believe that “happy” could be there next year?
We’ll keep it on this side with the following.. very carefully…
May the Lord answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.
May he send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion.
May he remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings.
May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.
Psalm 20:1-4
Sometimes we don’t know what to say either….