A Fresh Start
John 1: 1-18
There is something special about beginnings. When we start something new, a new relationship, a new job, a new year we are obliged to enter into territory that is yet uncharted. We are plunged into a new adventure where there is so much yet to be decided. Perhaps beginnings of any kind appeal to the deep yearnings of the human heart. We need occasions when we are invited and maybe even compelled to look at the world with fresh eyes and an open heart. And the life of faith affords us rituals and moments where we are launched onto a new road and invited to begin again. Even our Bible is full of beginnings and fresh starts, full of places where new things are pulled into being and newness is created.
(To the children) What is an example of a place where this happens in the Bible? Where does the story of creation unfold, where new things are pulled into being and newness is created? Genesis…How does it begin?
Even the words, “In the beginning…” invite us to pause, we know that something new is about to emerge and burst forth and the dance of creation begins.
1:1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.1:2Now the earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep. God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.
1:3God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.1:4God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness.1:5God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. There was evening and there was morning, one day…
We know that this story is indeed one where God breathes to life all that is and it is a new beginning, a fresh start and a place where new things are pulled into being and newness is created. But did you know that there are many stories of creation, many stories of new beginnings and fresh starts in our Bible? Some scholars believe that the oldest creation story or beginnings story is the one hundredth fourth Psalm, (to the children) and Psalms are really what…songs. So it is a creation hymn, which means that its imagery is bound up with the language of cosmology and it is very much concerned with the order of humankind. . Listen to just a part of it:
Psalm104
1Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, you are very great. You are clothed with honor and majesty,
2wrapped in light as with a garment. You stretch out the heavens like a tent,
3you set the beams of your chambers on the waters, you make the clouds your chariot, you ride on the wings of the wind,
4you make the winds your messengers, fire and flame your ministers.
5You set the earth on its foundations, so that it shall never be shaken.
6You cover it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.
7At your rebuke they flee; at the sound of your thunder they take to flight.
8They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys to the place that you appointed for them.
9You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth.
10You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills,
11giving drink to every wild animal; the wild asses quench their thirst.
12By the streams the birds of the air have their habitation; they sing among the branches.
13From your lofty abode you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.
Another story of new beginnings or a story of creation is the Song of Solomon or the Song of Songs. The traditional Jewish understanding contends that the song is a religious allegory recounting God’s love for Israel and the history of their relationship. And for Christians this long poem can be seen as an allegory of Christ’s love for the church. Part of it is derived from an ancient Mesopotamian ritual of marriage between two gods and some scholars believe that the song is a description of an actual wedding. It is something like the story of the creation or beginning of love. Listen to just a part of it:
Song of Songs 2:8-13
8The voice of my beloved! Look, he comes, leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills. 9My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look, there he stands behind our wall, gazing in at the windows, looking through the lattice. 10My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; 11for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. 12The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. 13The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.
During our walk through advent and the coming of Christmas, we explored another creation story, (ask the children) the story of Jesus birth. For Christians it is the creation of a new way, the birth of a new creation unfolding, where new things are pulled into being and newness is created. We heard form the Gospel of Luke (1:26-31).
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, "Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you!" 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
And there is yet another story of creation and can you (to the children) guess how it begins?
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”
In Greek, word is Logos which is dabar in Hebrew. Dabar most commonly refers to God's self-communication, or the relating of God, who is unseen, to the created world. Logos is an expression of God's innermost nature which is present in the world. So we might say in the beginning God was relating, and the relating was with God, and the relating was God. With each story of creation, with each poem of possibility and each tale of a fresh start, there is a common thread that they share. (To the children) Do you know what all five creation or beginning stories have in common? God was there.
There is indeed something special about beginnings. The life of faith is full of beginnings, full of places where new things are pulled into being and newness is created. (To the children) And what is present with each new beginning, each fresh start, and each new creation? God is present and ready and willing to offer each of us the gift of a fresh start and the ongoing story of creation unfolds anew in each of us. May it be so. Amen.
http://www.progressiveinvolvement.com/progressive_involvement/2008/12/lectionary-blogging-john-1-118.html