Good Riddance Day

A week before last, the Times Square Alliance hosted the second annual 'Good Riddance Day' in which the public was invited to say good bye to the bad and ugly of 2008. Citizens shredded pictures, messages, and more as a way of saying 'Good Riddance' to the bricks that weighed them down in the previous year.

The Ancient Israelites had a similar practice known as the Year of Jubilee. Every 50 years, all Israelites who were sold into slavery were emancipated and any land sold in the previous 49 years was returned to its original owner. This ensured that no Israelite was a permanent slave and that no Israelite would go without their inheritance forever.

As a Christian, the Year of Jubliee takes on a whole new meaning for me. When Christ came into my life, every day became a celebration as the old man was shed to make room for the new. Jesus put it like this:

No one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins - and the wine is destroyed, so are the skins. You put new wine in new wineskins.

As we start the new year, this is something to keep in mind. We could all use a little 'Good Riddance' in our lives.

1 comment:

  1. I forgot your email address, but I got to thinking. I had a pretty good article, and I would wind up writing you a multi-page systematic paper in a good academic style, which I can still do, that covers the topic of guardian angels as I know it from beginning to end and places it in a theological context. I could do that, or I could send you this very short, but quite ample little article. I figure the latter would be more interesting for you ;).

    http://www.antiochian.org/node/18443

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