Happy New Year!

Confused?  It may be just September 30th to most of us, but today is also Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.  Rosh Hashanah is the beginning of a ten-day period known as the High Holy Days, or the Days of Awe, that will culminate on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.  I’ve been reading about the significance of Rosh Hashanah today in the hopes of understanding its importance to God’s people, and have found much worthy of reflection.  While there are many aspects of the day that are important – from the belief that God created Adam and Eve on this day and the recognition of God as King of the universe to the certainty of future judgment as all humanity passes before God the judge – the central focus of this season is repentance.

Repentance is a word that at its essence communicates returning to God.  It connotes turning from sin, turning from self-centeredness, and once again making God the center of our lives.  It is deciding not to live for money, or pleasure, or any other person, but to live for God.  As I’ve meditated on Rosh Hashanah and this aspect of the holiday, I think I’ve been most struck by the contrast between the traditional January 1st New Year’s and the Rosh Hashanah new year.  I’ve always understood the focus of our traditional New Year to be about becoming the person we’ve always wanted to be.  It’s about stopping bad habits and starting good ones.  It’s about making New Year’s resolutions that are in line with the person we hope to be, whether it is a more disciplined exerciser, or more committed family man, or developing a discipline or hobby that we’ve always wanted to pursue.  Whatever it is, the focus is usually on ourselves and achieving our goals.

Rosh Hashanah, on the other hand, is not primarily about us.  It’s about God.  For thirty days leading up to this day, the believer is supposed to reflect on his or her life in the light of God’s holiness and to repent of that which is not in line with discipleship to God.  It’s not about New Year’s resolutions, but about developing a habit of God-centeredness, allowing Him to replace our own selfish desires with His desires.   

One of the central aspects of Rosh Hashanah is the shofar, a trumpet-like instrument that is blown every morning during the month leading up to Rosh Hashanah in order to warn people to repent and return to God.  I found this to be a great idea (although I’m sure it would be annoying in the morning) – a wakeup call to warn people to reflect and repent, to live their lives with God at the center instead of beginning the day in our usual self-centered manner.  As Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:11-14:

Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.  But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

You may not own a shofar or know someone who can blow one every morning, but is there something you can do to regularly remind yourself in the morning as you rise to live for God and not yourself?

Even if you are not Jewish or have never understood, let alone celebrated, Rosh Hashanah, let me challenge you to recognize the wisdom of God in making this a regular practice of His people heading into a New Year.  Instead of simply coming up with a resolution on how to improve our lives, why not instead reflect on how we stand in the light of a holy God, so that we might repent and get right with Him. 

Seriously.  Instead of writing another page or two on the meaning of this important day, the best thing I can ask you to do is to stop and take the next five minutes, if not longer, to reflect and repent in the light of our holy and loving God.

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