This is the time of year when seemingly everyone wishes everyone else a happy new year. This year it seems like more of a prayer than a greeting.

As Americans we generally think ourselves optimistic about the future but I have to admit this year it’s more of a reach for me than usual. Last year at this time I was expecting good things from 2021. Joe Biden was on the cusp of the Presidency and I truly believed that this was the year we would end COVID 19.

I wasn’t entirely surprised by the events of January 6th and was frankly a little surprised that Donald Trump voluntarily left the White House on January 20th. I fully expected that President Biden would need to call the Secret Service to remove a trespasser.

This is what I didn’t expect: as COVID continued to enjoy 2021 I had no idea that large numbers of ordinary people would continue to believe the lies that masks don’t work, that vaccines are dangerous, and that getting sick wasn’t too bad.

Last year 386,000 Americans died of COVID, more than died in 2020. The science couldn’t be clearer. Those who got sick and those who died were overwhelmingly people who didn’t follow simple directions.

Problem is that I don’t see anything turning around in 2022. As far as I can tell the science deniers will continue to deny and the ignorant will continue to work hard to maintain their ignorance. Meanwhile we will continue to discover COVID variants like Omicron.

As an American I find optimism hard, but as a Christian I find hope easier. Unlike optimism, hope does not rely on events but on faith.

Even the most ignorant person, and even the most evil purveyor of these lies lives within God’s love and healing. So if we happy new year is more of a prayer than a greeting, let us rejoice in the hope that makes it so.