A New Years Letter

Happy New Year!

January 1, 2026 by J. Heinrich Arnold

We all eagerly awaited it, twelve o’clock, the stroke of midnight, to ring in a new year, leaving behind 2025 with all its tumultuous events. We have experienced incredible pain, loss and challenges, but also precious blessings, gifts and miracles. It’s a moment we celebrate, though it’s marked by nothing more than the passing of time. It is a moment for reflection, thanksgiving and looking forwards. Many stop to make New Year’s resolutions. That is good, but the problem is they mostly go in one year and come out the other. Interestingly, across the world, this moment arrives in different time zones, with the Christmas Islands being the first to welcome the New Year, closely followed by New Zealand, Australia and Korea.

But true newness isn’t so simple. A clock or calendar doesn’t bring about transformation. Time moves on relentlessly, unaffected by any physical force. What will it bring? Will it bring decay, death, and rot – or will it spark creative growth and new life?

The answer depends on where we look, where we go, and what we hold close to our hearts: God or man?

1 Corinthians 15:21–22
For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

John 11:25–26
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Romans 8:11
And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you.

Brothers and sisters, let us turn to God – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit! In God is life and newness. Boldly walk across the water toward a new life in Jesus. Let the old Adam – the sin, death, and decay – die and rot. God can use the compost to nourish His garden, where the gentle spring rains fertilize the roots, and the zephyr breath of the Holy Spirit awakens new buds on the tree of life. Will we take that step of faith today and grasp Jesus' outstretched hand?

This is our calling for the New Year: to be completely reborn, re-energized, revived! Repent! Rejoice! Baptism symbolizes dying to self and being raised to new life in Christ. John spoke of Christ baptizing with fire – fire that burns away the old dead growth and allows fresh, green shoots to spring up and flourish.

This new birth is what Jesus taught to Nicodemus in John 3:3: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Read the whole chapter and let the 16th verse speak deeply: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Let us look at the world around us, and our place in it. So much darkness, coldness, crisis, war, death, and despair. Families, communities, and cultures are breaking down. Loneliness and hopelessness are spreading. This is the death of Adam, the loss of faith in God. We have all experienced this death – through tragedy, illness, and the distance from those who have lost their way or turned away from church community.

But in the midst of it all, we see sparks of hope and renewal: the birth of new babies, baptisms, new marriages, new families, new communities of faith and action. These are all gifts from God, and we should thank and praise Him every day. We must also pray relentlessly for more of His intervention and blessings.

Our founder, Eberhard Arnold, said at the beginning of 1933:

"So we stand confronted by all this – a most insignificant group of people. What can we do? We are less than a gnat on an elephant, less than a grain of sand on the shore, less than a drop in a bucket. And yet our faith tells us this does not matter... that we must still be ready for the new year. We must be ready to do our utmost. We must be courageous; the hour demands it. In the face of great events, we must not be found too small. In the face of God's great plans, we dare not be found too petty.
How can we prepare for this? We do not know. Therefore we must call upon God... What we do know is that whatever happens, it will unfold in proportion to our faith. Jesus promised us this."

This truth is more relevant today than ever. We pray that the power of God be made manifest in us and in all humankind. We desperately need an outpouring of God’s love – bringing new life, new fruit. God is love. If we do not love, we do not have God. We are dead. God wants us to love Him and love each other. If God's love is big enough for the whole world, our love should be that big. When we love our neighbors as ourselves, all problems, sadness, materialism, sin, suffering, and death will flee away. We will be born again.

This rebirth will change us. It will transform our inner man, our hearts. The fruits of this new life will be visible in the true fellowship and unity of the believers – the unity of the brotherhood in Christ. We will forgive those who have hurt us. We will not pass by any person without a kind word or a smile. We will be true and faithful to the teachings of Jesus from the Gospel, especially the Sermon on the Mount. We will not live selfishly or hold onto any money or possession for our own comfort without sharing with our neighbor. Our calling to live in church community will be completely alive, powerful, infectious, and joyous. It will spread and join with other branches of new church life – the one true vine of Jesus.

Revelation 3:20
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

Jesus is coming! Let us be ready today and throughout this New Year!

With much love and anticipation,
your brother and sister,

Heinrich and Wilma

P.S. Read the story of the rich young man who asked Jesus an important question – one we are asking today. Let it speak to you now, without any addition or commentary, from the Gospel of Mark:

Mark 10:17–31

The Rich Young Man and the Kingdom of God

And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

J. Heinrich Arnold serves as a senior pastor for the Bruderhof in the United States and abroad.