For Many, New Year Is a Time for Reflection

Many Americans will be toasting the turn of the millennium with flutes of champagne and savory finger foods. Others will be sipping communion wine and swallowing flavorless wafers at religious services while contemplating Christianity in the new century.

After all, the millennium is especially significant to Christians because it marks, according to the Gregorian calendar, the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of Jesus.

Across Orange County, people of all faiths will celebrate the moment in dramatically different ways: from an interfaith bagpipes-and-candlelight vigil on the beach to fire-and-brimstone sermons to doors quietly left open at Roman Catholic churches to mark Pope John Paul’s declaration of a Jubilee Year.

For all of that, however, many ministers point out that the calendar has been frequently altered so that the 2,000th anniversary of Christ’s birth most likely passed a few years ago. Some are downplaying the turn of the calendar in their year-end addresses to congregants.

“Talk about the end of the world has been building to a crescendo for the last 25 years,” said Rev. Steve Mather of the First Presbyterian in Anaheim, who dismissed the notion that the end times are supposed to be 2,000 years after the birth of Christ. “Anyway, that day passed very quietly in 1996,” according to scholarly calculations that put the Gregorian calendar four years out of date.

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At First Presbyterian in Anaheim, the clergy has decided to spare the congregants more blather about the millennium and instead will focus on people’s goals for their spirituality in the new century.

“Some Christians have given up on the human story and they want God to return and right all wrongs,” he said. “But God has a lot more patience for the human drama than we do. The years just go on and on.”

The Rev. Ron Martin, senior pastor at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church of Orange, will start the new century with a series of sermons on the Ten Commandments and doesn’t see 2000 fitting in with the biblical prophecy of the end times.

“If God had a plan to do something 2,000 years after Jesus was born, it’s already passed,” he said. “Everybody’s hyped over nothing. Frankly, the year 2000 is being hyped for financial reasons. But as far as the church goes, we don’t see anything to pick up on.”

Many other Orange County preachers, however, have plans to address the millennium directly, many scheduling large services on New Year’s Eve.

Among the largest events planned is a rally for thousands of young people in Anaheim, one of six sites nationwide for “YouthLink 2000,” a New Year’s celebration sponsored by the Southern Baptist Convention. The three-day event will begin at the Anaheim Convention Center on Dec. 29 with entertainment and worship services and culminate on New Year’s Eve with music, fireworks and evangelism.

Participants will be linked by satellite with similar gatherings in the Houston Astrodome, Tampa Ice Palace and other convention centers. The event--which organizers expect to draw 200,000 youths nationwide--also includes community service projects through which young people will clean up neighborhoods and serve food in soup kitchens. Participants may register for $45 per day or $90 for the entire event by calling (888) 968-8455 or visiting https://www.youthlink2000.org.

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Following are some of the other religious events planned in Orange County for the year’s end:

* Chuck Smith Sr., one of Orange County’s most prominent pastors, will speak on New Year’s Eve about the millennium and what to expect from a biblical perspective. The service will be held from 9 p.m. to midnight at his Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, 3800 South Fairview Road in Santa Ana. Information: (714) 979-4422.

* The Unity Church of Tustin will offer an evening of chanting and singing on New Year’s Eve from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. at 14402 S. Prospect Ave. in Tustin. Congregants will be asked to write a letter to God, asking for whatever spiritual gifts that he or she would like to receive during the next year. Information: (714) 730-3444.

* The United Religions Initiative is hosting a “72 Hours of Peace Project” at 10:30 a.m. New Year’s Day at the Shepherd of the Hills Church at 30121 Niguel Road in Laguna Niguel. The event, featuring chanting, praying and meditating, is sponsored by the Alliance for Spiritual Community. Information: (949) 661-3087.

* The Crystal Cathedral singles ministry will host a New Year’s Eve dinner and dance at the church at 7 p.m. at 12141 Lewis St. in Garden Grove. Just before midnight, the group will congregate in the sanctuary for communion and reflection. Tickets are $35. Information: (714) 544-5679.

* Roman Catholic churches around the county will open a door in their churches at Mass on Friday night in conjunction with the opening of the Great Holy Year Door in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The door will remain open throughout the Jubilee 2000 year. Information: (714) 282-3000.

* “Procession of Light 2000” from 3 p.m. to sunset Jan. 2 will be held at the Huntington Beach Pier. The interfaith event, sponsored by the Greater Huntington Beach Interfaith Council, will feature a bagpipe band and a candlelight vigil.

* Televangelist Benny Hinn, who recently built a $4.5-million media center in Aliso Viejo, will give a New Year’s Eve and communion service at 8 p.m. at the Long Beach Convention Center. Information: (972) 629-2000.

* Pastor Greg Laurie, who heads the annual Harvest Crusade Festival in Orange County, will speak about the millennium’s end at a New Year’s Eve service at 6 p.m. at his Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside. Afterward, the church is sponsoring a teen concert from 9 p.m. to midnight featuring the bands Switchfoot, Electric Groove and the Cry. The gig will be at 6115 Arlington Ave. in Riverside. Information: (909) 687-6902.