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Happy New Year to all! 

Yes, that’s right—this week’s newsletter shifts the focus from Christmas to New Year. It’s still December today as I’m writing, but this will probably circulate on New Year’s Eve Day, and when we gather next Sunday again, it will be 2026. So, this is going to be another quickly-written holiday newsletter, and it comes with warm wishes and prayers for a Happy New Year.

Over the Advent season, I’ve quoted a number of Christmas carols which I find helpful as incentives to worship. This morning, my hymnbook was open to the familiar song Joy to the World. It’s always appropriate for us to respond with joy to the gift of God’s Son at Christmas. But I didn’t plan to include a carol this week. Instead, the words of another old hymn came to mind. When I googled the words to make sure I get them right, I was surprised to find that the hymn in my head this morning was written by the same author as Joy to the World. His name is Isaac Watts, and he was an important Christian thinker in the 1600-1700’s. You may recognize several Watts’ songs. The list includes Joy to the World, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, Jesus Shall Reign Wherever The Sun …, I Sing the Mighty Power of God, and O God, Our Help in Ages Past.

It was the last of these songs that popped into my head this morning. I think the words of O God Our Help are very appropriate as we turn to a new year. Here are some of the verses that speak to me today:

O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal home.

Under the shadow of Your throne, Your saints have dwelt secure.
Sufficient is Your arm alone, and our defense is sure.

Before the hills in order stood, or Earth received her frame,
From everlasting You are God, to endless years the same. 

A thousand ages in Your sight are like an evening gone.
Short as the watch that ends the night before the rising sun.

O God our help in ages past, our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guide while life shall last, and our eternal home.

For us, the years slip past with surprising and increasing swiftness, and sometimes we’re left feeling very vulnerable. But our God is the everlasting God, whose plans are both good and firm, whose power to help never fails or diminishes over time, who is always loving and gracious. He knows what’s coming in 2026, and He has already planned to turn it all to good for those He loves. And He never stops loving us. So yes, as Mr. Watts said so well, “Our defense is sure,” and God will be both “our shelter” and “our eternal home.”

Or, to put it another way, as we saw last Sunday, God is “with us” and He will faithfully be “with us” in this coming year just as He has been in the past. That means our New Year is in good hands. May that be an encouragement and source of joy to you this week!

On other fronts, we’ll return to our study of Colossians this next Sunday. I’m still working on this week’s message, so I don’t have a lot of specifics for you yet. But I assume we’ll do a quick review and pick up in the transition into practical instruction. If you want to read ahead, I suggest looking at 2:6 through 3:11—that’s the general section before us. If you’ve forgotten the earlier parts, a review never hurts, too. 

That’s my news for this week. Again, have a wonderful New Year, however you celebrate it. And may 2026 be a season of growth, blessing, fruitfulness, and joy for you and yours. See you soon!

—Pastor Ken