Before the Resolutions: Good News!

As we launch into 2026, many people are making resolutions, looking for the best deal on a local gym membership, and starting lists of all the books they are going to read in the next 12 months. All of these things can be good and fun. Working to improve your life, health, and knowledge are great pursuits!

But how many resolutions go unresolved? How many gym memberships fall prey to: “Just 10 more minutes of sleep?” Go check your bookshelf or your kindle app, how many books do you still need to read from your 2025 list? Maybe this is the year to set more attainable goals. Lock into fewer as opposed to more and celebrate when growth happens!

How about starting the new year with the Gospel? Take some time to rest instead of improve. 

Remember this: 

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. - Romans 5:6

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. - 2 Corinthians 12:9

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." - Luke 19:10

What if we started the new year resting in the Gospel? 

Resolve, get healthy, and read some books! But don’t do it because you think you aren’t enough. Jesus says that you are. View this new year through the waters of your baptism.

Have some goals? Chase them, knowing that you are a beloved child of God.

Getting healthy? Rejoice that God (as Luther says in the Small Catechism), “...has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them.”

Want to read some books? Awesome! But as you go, remember to abide in God’s Word for refreshment.

Join us at Narrative over the coming weeks as we turn together to the Scriptures and are brought back to the deepest truth of our faith: the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As a new year begins, we’re setting aside the pressure to reinvent ourselves and instead grounding ourselves in what God has already done for us in Christ.

This series is an invitation to start 2026 rooted in grace, shaped by God’s promises, and confident in our identity as His people. As we listen to God’s Word, we’ll be reminded that the Gospel is not just the starting point of the Christian life, but the foundation that carries us forward into everything that comes next.

PS - Who in your life could use a fresh start rooted in grace instead of pressure? Invite them to join you as we begin the year by hearing the good news of what Jesus has already done—for you, for the church, and for the world.