In a speech at Guildhall on 24 November 1992, Queen Elizabeth II declared:
“1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure. In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an annus horribilis.”
Annus horribilis is Latin for “horrible year” (annus, annual, horribilis, horrible). On this, the eve of 2021, many of us will be looking back on what has truly been a horrible year. 2020 has been a visceral reminder that we aren’t ultimately in control of our lives; even our best of intentions can be thwarted by adverse circumstances.
Reflecting on this tonight, I happened upon a sermon delivered by Charles Haddon Spurgeon on January 6, 1867. Evidently the year of 1866 was another annus horribilis in Britain’s history.
C.H. Spurgeon, “Good Cheer for the New Year.” 1867.
“The eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year…”
(Deut. 11:12)
“…Leave us never, O our God, but always be our very present help! Last year was, perhaps, the most gloomy of our lives. All the newspaper summaries of 1866 are like the prophetic roll which was written within and without with lamentations. The year has gone, and everybody is glad to think that we have entered upon a new one; yet, who knows but what 1867 may be worse? Who can tell? Well, brethren, let it be what God chooses it shall be. Let it be what he appoints; for there is this comfort in the assurance that not a moment from this Sabbath night on to the 31st December, 1867, shall be without the tender care of heaven; not even for a second will the Lord remove his eyes from any one of his people. Here is good cheer for us! We will march boldly into this wilderness, for the pillar of fire and cloud will never leave us; the manna will never cease to drop, and the rock that followed us will never cease to flow with living streams. Onward, onward, let us go, joyously confident in our God.”
The changing of the calendar year provides a chance for each one of us to consider areas of change in our own lives. As we reflect on the year just been, may we heed these wise words of the Prince of Preachers, which are both sobering and hopeful as we press “onward onward…” into the unknown of 2021.
