Forget about when Christmas begins! When does New Year’s happen?
The calendar says it is New Year’s, but I am not sure we can trust our calendars. See, for most of our history, no one knew what the date was—or even what time it was! At least, that is my big take-away from a book a friend co-wrote entitled, The New Millennium Manual: A Once and Future Guide (cowritten in 1999 by Robert Clouse, Richard Pierard and our good friend, Bobby Hosack). Here’s my summary of the story.
Apparently, the earliest calendars were all based on the moon. People looked up; and when they saw the new crescent moon, they began a new month. But the lunar calendar was almost 11 days shorter than a solar calendar; and so to keep up with the sun, they had to add an extra leap month every three years. But there were other problems, as well. Some people believed the new year started in the spring, others in the fall and some in January. Apparently, no one really knew what time it was!
The Romans tried to fix this. They created a calendar that utilized the movements of the sun and the moon, but it deviated almost eighty days from the normal solar calendar (and if your calendar isn’t accurate within eighty days, you definitely need a new calendar). But that’s the way the calendar was until Julius Caesar came along. At a loss for what month it actually was, the Big J ordered a new calendar to be made. This time, however, the calendar was going to be based completely on the sun (no moon wanted). This innovation brought three major changes. First, the year was now comprised of 365 ¼ days. Second, previously, March 1 was understood to be New Year’s Day (And why not? It was the start of the new planting season and the new warring season), but now January 1st was the first of the year. Third, in the past, people thought there were ten months in the year (hence the reason the last four months of our calendar are named after numbers—September, October, November and December, which in Latin is translated properly as seven, eight, nine and ten); but with the new calendar, two new months were added to the year for a total of twelve. One would have thought these new months would have been tacked on to the end, but they ended up right after the new halfway mark. And we can only assume that the royal kiss-up who suggested these two months be named for the hottest two Caesars, Julius and Augustus, got a well-deserved pay raise.
And everything was great in calendar land until a monk decided that time ought to be divided in two eras. The first should be reserved for the period before Christ was born and the second for the time after his birth. The year was 525 and the monk’s name was Dionysius Exiguous which, when translated, means, “Denis the Short.” So Denis researched and researched and figured out when Jesus was born and made that year one (so people went from 1 BC to 1 AD without once having to pass through year zero). But unfortunately, “Denis the Short” got his calculations wrong and as a result, we ended with the strange anomaly where Jesus was actually born in the period before his birth (ironically, Denis was 4 or 5 years long).
After Denis, everything returned to normal, calendar-wise, but after a dozen or so centuries astronomers realized there was yet another problem. They had come to the conclusion that the solar year was, in fact, slightly shorter than Julius Caesar had estimated. To be exact, Julius’ clock was 11 minutes and 14 seconds fast every year; and after a bunch of years, those minutes add up. Enter Pope Gregory to the rescue. In 1582, he set out to correct the calendar and get everything back on time. However, the proposed reform, while necessary, was rather drastic. But for Pope Gregory, there was no turning back. And so, on the night of October 4, 1582, everyone went to bed as usual, only to arise the next morning on October 15. That’s right, just by issuing a decree, Pope Gregory sent the whole western world eleven days into the future (take that, H.G. Wells!).
It’s New Year’s (I think); the time I have always proposed we reassess our lives, make resolutions and refocus our energies. For most of my life, I have zeroed in on this day, the day above all other days, to start afresh and to apply ourselves to grow our spiritual lives. A few years ago, however, I read a quote by Carl Bard that said, “Though no one can go back and make a brand-new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand-new ending.” The more I thought about those words, the more I realized that it really didn’t matter what the calendar said. Whenever we are ready to start to make a brand-new ending is not only the beginning of a whole new life, but a whole new year because if you are new, then everything around you becomes new, as well. After all, you can’t take a new step in your discipleship without walking into a brand-new year. The calendar may not say so, but our calendars have frequently been wrong. Mother Teresa said it this way: “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”
Here’s the point: You’ve been made a new creation. Now is the time to put on the new self and go out and live in the new way of the Spirit. And whenever you decide to do that, it will be a new year!
Blessings and peace to you, and happy New Year!
