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There is any number of New Year’s Eve traditions and customs all across the globe. Some are more interesting to the outside observer than others.

In Peru, many people wear yellow undergarments in order to attract prosperity and success in the coming year. Make sure to have your undies on backwards first and then put them on the right way at the strike of midnight, otherwise it won’t work.

In the United States, many people smooch the person closest to them at the strike of midnight, in hopes of starting the New Year off on a good note. Make sure you’re not close to anyone who had garlic bread with dinner though, or you might be in trouble.

While the New Year’s Eve traditions and customs of one culture can seem weird or wacky to another, what’s at the heart of most of them is a desire for prosperity, blessing, and good fortune in the year to come.

As followers of Jesus, we can celebrate the New Year with great joy and hope no matter what the traditions and customs are of the particular place where we find ourselves, because our definition of prosperity, blessing, and good fortune is much different than the world’s.

As baptized children of God, we can be certain that whatever the coming year may bring, our Father in Heaven knows and wants the very best for us. So that even if 2015 is filled with nothing but that which the world considers terrible luck, hardship and loss, we have already received every spiritual blessing in Christ through the waters of our Baptism.

Which, for me, is really good news, because my wife just threw out my last pair of yellow underwear.

Father in Heaven, God of years gone by and years to come. Thank you for this year that has come to an end. Thank you for being with us both in the good times and the bad. Most of all, we thank you for the forgiveness of all of our sins, and for wiping us clean through the waters of our baptism, so that we might be certain that you no matter what the New Year brings, we are yours. Amen. (Adapted from “In the Name of Jesus: Prayers for Every Occasion)