12.31.2025

Do you have your black-eyed peas soaking? Are your collards cleaned and ready to cook? Do you have everything you need to make your cornbread (except sugar, of course, because it doesn’t belong in cornbread)? 

 I hope so, because New Year’s is here!

 I think it’s funny that there are people who are not superstitious at all except when it comes to their New Year’s Day traditions. And it’s not just a Southern-American thing. In many Asian cultures, people eat long noodles for a long life. People from a German background will have pork and sauerkraut for luck. In Latin cultures, 12 grapes eaten at midnight bring luck each month. Many Irish-Americans (I’m one of them) eat corned beef and cabbage on New Year’s as a symbol of abundance. Although black-eyed peas apparently came to the US from Africa, it was a centuries long Sephardic-Jewish tradition to eat them on New Year’s. 

 "Peas for pennies, greens for dollars, and cornbread for gold," is an old southern saying. In the south, no one would face a new year without a plate full of black-eyed peas, some sort of greens, hog jowl (or, as my family would say, “hog jaw”), and cornbread. The greens, whether collards or cabbage, represent money. The black-eyed peas symbolize coins, bringing more financial luck. The pork, whether fried or used to season your black-eyed peas, represent progress because pigs root forward. 

 You would never eat chicken on New Year's Day in the south, because chickens scratch backwards and no one wants to go backwards in the New Year. No – New Year's hopes are always about cash and progress.

But it’s not just food! Growing up there were three things we didn’t do on January 1 or we’d curse your new year. No laundry, because you’ll wash away your luck for the upcoming year. You want to make sure everything is clean and ready to go before the clock strikes midnight. Similarly, you don’t scrub pots and pans on New Year’s because you’re just scrubbing good luck right out of the house. Third, don’t take out the trash. Throwing out anything on New Years’ Day meant throwing out money, blessings, or opportunity. And don’t borrow, lend, or argue, or work too much, because what you did on New Years Day would echo forward for the rest of the year. Be sure and take your money outside and bring it back in right after midnight so money will be coming in all year (isn’t it interesting how much of this has to do with money?). 

Whew! That’s a lot! One slip, like rinsing out a coffee cup, and you mess up the entire year! 

Is there a more secure way of going into 2026? 

Yes. I’m glad you asked.  One of the psalms coming up in our January 18 Sunday worship service gives us another, more steadfast and sure plan. Psalm 40:4 tells us:

Blessed are those who make
    the Lord their trust,
who do not turn to the proud,
    to those who go astray after false gods.

Some translations will say “Happy are those,” but “happy” is a weak word. Happiness is associated with outward circumstances. The psalmist describes pretty difficult times that no one would describe as happy: “the desolate pit . . . the miry bog.” But even in a situation like that, one can still be “blessed,” because to be blessed is to be in the center of God’s will. And when we’re in the center of God’s will, we know that whatever swirls around us, God will see us through!

In fact, that’s where the psalmist begins: “I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry.” Like “happy,” “waited patiently” is also a weak translation. A better translation would be “I hoped intensely” for the Lord. This isn’t just grinning and bearing it. This is an active, determined belief that God WILL act. Remember that hope in the Biblical sense is a much stronger concept than our notion of hope. Our use of hope often comes with a shadow of a doubt (“I hope Alabama wins Friday”). But when the Hebrews spoke of hope, as in Psalm 40’s “I hoped intensely,” it implies an absolute assurance that God is going to act! 

There is no doubt. “I hoped intensely for the Lord.” And God came through! Here’s what God did:

He drew me up from the desolate pit,
    out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
    making my steps secure.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
    a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear
    and put their trust in the Lord.  

Someone asked me if I was going to party tonight. I said I’d do as much partying as I could before I go to bed at 9:00! I know some like to see the New Year in, as if wanting to suck out all the marrow of 2025 they can before it's over.

I’m fine. 2025 had its challenges. I can lay it aside easily and wake up to a fresh start in 2026. But, saying that, I know I can look back on 2025 and say that “I hoped intensely for the Lord,” and the Lord came through for me in every way. And not only that, but I know that whatever comes in 2026, my hope is going to be in that same Lord who is going to come through in that same way. 

So, sure, enjoy your black-eyed peas, greens and cornbread! But at the same time, keep your hope in God.

Looking forward to whatever God has for us in 2026!

Happy New Year! 
Pastor Terry