Eric's Beijing Diary

New Year's Eve. I took my class to dinner last night. I generally teach software, but once in awhile, I teach a graduate business presentation class. I like to take them to dinner at least once in the semester, and since we did not meet on Christmas Eve, I thought it imperative that we miss another class period and have a party. After dinner, I went to the coffee bar and read the paper. The coffee bar is open all night, but for some reason, I just couldn't make myself stay. I decided to go home and bring in the new year with a private communion service. I hate to be a party pooper, but at this point in my life, I am getting weary of the hoopla. So I had my own party. But the wine that flowed was the New Covenant in his blood, and the song of the evening was not "Auld Lang Syne." It was "Wounded for Me."

Strange, I suppose, to be preoccupied with death on a night that is supposed to be given to festivity. But it was a death that brought so much life to so many people. And it was a quiet evening, actually. No fireworks. There will be plenty of that in a few weeks when the real New Year comes. For me, I want 2009 to be defined by a deeper understanding of the death of Christ, and what it says about the heart of God. It's a tall order, I guess, but I just think there is something there worth contemplating. Solomon said, "It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart." (Ecclesiastes 7:2) And in one sense, pondering such a great sacrifice is a sort of celebration. A celebration of hope for redemption from the superficiality and temporariness of life.