Auld Lang Syne: Remembered, Redeemed, and Entrusted

Auld Lang Syne: Remembered, Redeemed, and Entrusted

As the final hours of 2025 slip away, we find ourselves doing what humans have always done at the turning of time: remembering.
Auld Lang Syne asks an ancient question:

“Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind?”

The song is not really about forgetting—it is about honoring. It is a confession that the past mattered. That the people we were, the roads we walked, the joys and the griefs, were not meaningless. We sing it because memory is holy ground.

Scripture echoes this instinct. Over and over, God’s people are told to remember—not to dwell in regret, but to recognize God’s faithfulness woven through time.

“Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other.” (Isaiah 46:9)

Yet remembrance in the Christian life is never nostalgia alone. It is remembrance with redemption.

Some of what we remember from this year is sweet—moments of laughter, healing, growth, and grace. Some of it is heavy—losses, disappointments, fears, prayers that still feel unanswered. We do not pretend those things didn’t happen. God does not ask us to forget them. He asks us to bring them to Him.

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18)

As the year closes, Scripture also gently reminds us that remembering does not mean remaining.

“Forget what lies behind and strain forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13–14)

This forgetting is not erasure—it is release. It is choosing not to be bound by what has already passed. It is trusting that God is not finished writing the story.

And so, like the song itself, we lift a figurative cup—a cup of kindness—not just toward one another, but toward God. Gratitude for what was. Mercy for what was hard. Hope for what is coming.

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail. They are new every morning.” (Lamentations 3:22–23)

As midnight approaches, we stand at the threshold of time. Behind us: a year fully lived. Ahead of us: a year fully unknown. And in this sacred in-between, God meets us—not rushing us forward, not shaming us for what’s past, but inviting us to trust Him again.

So we remember.
We release.
We entrust.

And we step into the new year hand in hand—not only with old acquaintances, but with the God who has been faithful through every single one of our days.

Amen.