For many cultures the New Year is the premium holiday. Our month, January is named for the Roman god, Janus, who was often portrayed with two faces, one facing the past year and the other facing the year ahead. We are here again at the transition from the old year into the new. In one sense nothing has changed by the year marking on the calendar. It will take us some time to get used to 2019 on our checks and deposit slips, but very little day to day change will be noted. Symbolically, the change is more profound. We have the sense that this is a new beginning. Perhaps, this new year will be better, more hopeful, kinder. We might even make some of those personal changes for our health and well being that we have been contemplating. Maybe there could be less strife in our homes, and country, and world. We feel like we can close the books on the past year and anticipate some new beginnings. Perhaps New Years is only one day, but it could be a day of new beginnings. Jewish believers still celebrate Rosh Hoshanah, literally the Head of the Year, perhaps with the hope that the head will influence for good the whole body of the year. May our celebration of the New Year reach out in faith to God for a wonderful set of new beginnings.