Resolutions

I don’t make new year’s resolutions.  Most such resolutions are made perfunctorily, maybe with all good intention, but most often without the will to follow through; kind of like Oscar Wilde’s reflection: Resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account.  But if something is truly important enough, it will be done regardless of whether a resolution is made.

 
In Matthew's birth narrative, Joseph's betrothed was found to be with child before marital relations and so he "resolved" to dismiss her quietly so as not to disgrace her.  This wasn't a new year's resolution, but an important decision that he would have followed up on if not for God's intervention to reassure him.  Joseph then “resolved” to follow, not his initial decision, but the revealed will of God.
 
For us, it means being resolute in our Baptismal mission to proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ; not just seeing words on paper that help us find the way, but integrating those words into our very being so that we make a way for God's good news to be proclaimed by our words and the example we set by how we live our lives. It means being devoted to sharing the transforming power of God's love in our lives, our communities, and our world (which, by the way, is explicitly the vision God has given St. Andrew’s).
 
It doesn't take a new year's resolution to do these things - the kind of resolution that tends to be perfunctory and quickly pass from memory or will.  Rather, like Joseph, reaching deep within, simply saying, "This is what I have resolved to do," and then doing it.  The vision God has given us in this new year is that important.
 
Marc Vance, Associate Rector