Sermon: The New Heart — New Year’s Eve

His Holiness Pope Shenouda III calls us in this sermon to ask God for a “new heart” at the beginning of the new year, based on the promises of the Holy Scripture (Ezekiel and the Psalms) and urges us to repentance and complete spiritual renewal.

Main idea

• The call to a true inner transformation: not merely a change in the calendar, but a fundamental change in the heart, behavior, and desires.
• The new heart means abandoning old sins and living a life filled with love for God and people, and pure spiritual feelings.

Spiritual and theological dimension (from the perspective of our Coptic Orthodox faith)

• True human change is a divine work — God grants the new heart through the Holy Spirit, and the believer must hold fast to the Lord to receive the promise.
• The divine birth of Christ is the source of the new principles: humility, gentleness, love, loving enemies, and the life of sonship to God; and these principles embody the new heart and spirit.

Practical and spiritual applications

• Division is not permitted: we must not live with two hearts (a new heart and an old one) but follow the commandment to love the Lord with all heart, soul, and strength.
• Prayer for society and nations: we ask God to give the world a new heart and spirit in which love and peace prevail and God’s will rules instead of lusts and interests.
• Reminder of Egypt’s spiritual standing: the joy of the Nativity and its connection to the land of Egypt and its Coptic Church, and prayer for the blessing and peace of Egypt and its people.

Spiritual conclusion

• The start of the year is an opportunity for repentance and renewing commitment to Christ and His values.
• We ask God to make our hearts temples of the Holy Spirit, and to grant us the ability for love, humility, and peace within society and the world.

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