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Endings and Beginnings
I saw the hard work God has given people to do. God has given them a desire to know the future. He does everything just right and on time, but people can never completely understand what he is doing. So I realize that the best thing for them is to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live.
-Ecclesiastes 3:10-12
“Fast away the old year passes. Hail the new, ye lads and lasses.”
(English carol)
Here we are at the beginning of the Church Year, anticipating the joy which comes with Christmas, the birth of the Christ child, God’s complete attempt to reveal himself fully to us. In the baby in the manger, he wants us to understand who he is, what he wants, and how he desires us to relate to him as his loving children. Too bad we still argue about all that … Another sage, alluding to Ecclesiastes, asked, “When will they ever learn?”
We are also at the end of the calendar year, with its births and deaths, its loves and frustrations, its joys and sorrows. For me personally the end of 2022 has all kinds of emotions. I will certainly miss serving officially on the staff of our church, but I will feel relieved of daily and weekly responsibilities. Your staggering expressions of love and generosity are at once overwhelming, gratifying, and humbling. Cleaning out my office is daunting, however! Helping to prepare for a new person to arrive and assume this position will be satisfying and purposeful, but there will be a sense of loss for me, too. I’m guessing I will have days when I laugh and shout, days when I sigh and cry. So what am I to do?
Maybe I can remind myself what the writer of Ecclesiastes said of God, quoted above:
He does everything just right and on time, but people can never completely understand what he is doing. So I realize that the best thing for them is to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live. [New Century Version]
The same writer (maybe King Solomon) who declared, “all is vanity!” also wrote: There is a time for everything, and everything on earth has its special season. So despite all my feelings, and in the midst of all the confusion and anger I hear on the national and international stage, I will try to take to heart his advice: “Be happy and enjoy [myself].” Do you suppose that would be a good motto for all of us?
As the carol suggests, shall we “Sing we joyous all together”? How about “Follow me in merry measure”? But finally, let’s listen once more to Ecclesiastes, this time from near the end of the book (11:7-8, The Message):
Oh, how sweet the light of day,
And how wonderful to live in the sunshine!
Even if you live a long time, don’t take a single day for granted.
Take delight in each light-filled hour …
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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