Old Year Out -- New Year In!

Another year of the Lord comes to completion and a new one is about to begin. Why "year of the Lord"? Because that is what A.D. means -- "anno Domini" (year of the Lord). It is a testimony of faith in the Incarnation of the Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our salvation.

While an early Medieval monk named Dionysius miscalculated (by 4 or 6 years!) the actual date of the birth of Jesus, we have been using this designation for centuries to describe the passage of time.

Still, not everyone is a Christian believer and so many have found the terminology BC (before Christ) and AD (anno Domini [year of the Lord]) to be objectionable. So, a more acceptable term has been used: BCE ( "before the common era") and CE ("common era").

I think it is a "trans-religious" and "trans-cultural" term that works when we are dealing with folks from other religious traditions or non-religious traditions which do not profess faith in Jesus as Christ (Messiah) or Lord.