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It is the first Sunday of the new year. 2023 is done. 2024 is all before us. My Zen Buddhist friends remind us that “the past is perfect.” So even though memories and regrets of this past year are fresh in our minds, there is nothing we can do now to change any of that. 2024 is a clean slate in front of us. It is time to move on. True, there are still some people we could say, “I’m sorry,” to from 2023. There are still some “Thank you’s, “You mean so much to me’s,” and “I love you’s” left unsaid last year. There are tons of things we may wish we could do over. But fretting over all that doesn’t change anything. What can happen in this new year is that maybe, if we’re lucky, we can make one significant change from our 2024 behavior. Rev. Fred Wideman, a pastor friend of mine from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, challenged his congregation to choose one thing they’d be willing to get up early or stay up late to accomplish this new year. One thing we’d be willing to go that extra mile to do. Ask God to help you do it. Then, if we’re lucky when we cross over into 2025 one year from now, the past will be perfect, and you will have one less regret. Here’s the Wesley Covenant Prayer that many United Methodist Churches say together on this first Sunday of the new year every year: “I am no longer my own, but thine. Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee, exalted for thee or brought low for thee. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Thou art mine and I am thine. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.” Grace & Peace,