New year, new you?

My January column for the churches' newsletters.


Once again, we find ourselves at the start of a new year. The airwaves and internet are saturated with features about New Year’s resolutions, with hundreds of “experts” telling you how to fix anything you don’t like about yourself.

How might our experience of the New Year be different if we change our focus? What if, instead of concentrating too narrowly on our perceived flaws, we spend this year exploring our baptismal identity and how it plays out in our lives?

Martin Luther said “a Christian life is nothing else than a daily baptism, begun once and continuing ever after” (Large Catechism). So the impulse to improve upon our weaknesses is not totally misguided, but the emphasis in the Christian life is very different.

New Year’s resolutions tend to be about fitting into an identity prescribed by the culture around us. They are often driven by shame—we start out feeling somehow inadequate, and we end up feeling like even more of a failure when we don’t meet the unrealistic expectations we set.

Our baptismal identity, in contrast, is a gift from God, rooted in love and charged with great power. We are a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17)! And we are sealed by the Holy Spirit, whose fruit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). But this fruit is not produced through the guidance of self-help gurus, for it is not work we can do ourselves!

Now, I’m certainly not suggesting we become complacent. Indeed, the Spirit works through our lives of discipleship. Through regular worship, through the Lord’s Supper, through scripture and study and fellowship with other Christians, the Holy Spirit continually shapes us into closer conformity with the Christ whose image we bear. This work is about joy! It is about love of God and love of neighbor! It is not about shame.

What does it mean that you are baptized? How does your identity as a child of God define you? How does it counter the pressure of culturally-defined perfection or unhealthy expectations?

This year, I wish you the peace and assurance of knowing you are a beloved child of God, defined by the Christ who has claimed you, and in whom the Spirit is always at work!