A New Year's Eve Card Talk (2013)

2014 is upon us. Fu.. .we mean, "yeah!"

2013 was great/horrible year for A Game for Good Christians. We were born, we shat our pants, we experienced growing pains with your help, and here we are: looking with hope and terror at what the New Year will bring.But let us usher in that New Year with some old words.

Leviticus 25 describes what is alternately called "The Sabbatical Year" and "The Year of Jubilee" (after which many a mega-church, Christian self-help poetry, and terrible small-church-group activities have been named).

In lieu of New Year's resolutions, we would like to suggest five simple (and not so simple) practices and ideas from this text which might make the upcoming months more enjoyable for us all.

1. Get some God-blessed rest ( ... but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of complete rest for the land, a sabbath for the Lord ... vs 4-5)

2. Try to suck less ( ... then you shall have the trumpet sounded loud; on the tenth day of the seventh month — on the day of atonement — you shall have the trumpet sounded throughout all your land. .. observe my statutes and faithfully keep my ordinances, so that you may live on the land securely. vs 9; 18)

3. Call your mother / Visit your family ( ... It shall be a jubilee for you: you shall return, every one of you, to your property and every one of you to your family. .. vs 10)

4. Don't be a dick to your neighbors ( ...when you make a sale to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor, you shall not cheat one another. .. You shall not cheat one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the Lord your God. vs. 14; 17)

5. Don't be a dick to your family ( ... If anyone of your kin falls into difficulty and sells a piece of property, then the next of kin shall come and redeem what the relative has sold ... If any of your kin fall into difficulty and become dependent on you, you shall support them ...Do not take interest in advance or otherwise make a profit from them, but fear your God; let them live with you. You shall not lend them your money at interest taken in advance, or provide them food at a profit . . .if any who are dependent on you become so impoverished that they sell themselves to you, you shall not make them serve as slaves... 25, 35-37; 39)

Perhaps the real lesson is, just don't be a dick to anyone: God, others, or yourself.

Perhaps the lesson could be stated positively:

" 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength' [and] 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." ~ Jesus in Mark 12:30-31

But what do we know: we made this game, you probably think we're going to Hell, and we miss Dick Clark.

Happy New Year from the degenerates at A Game for Good Christians!!!