At the closing of the year it's a good thing to look back, even as
we continue to move forward. It’s good
to look in our rear-view mirror to see our experiences of God in our lives
during the year we are closing and to reflect on them. Yes, even as we keep on
driving and looking to the road ahead.
I look to 3 very specific experiences this past year for which I am
extremely grateful to God; Tim (and Dottie’s) successful back surgeries and
recoveries and (in my opinion) the “wedding of the year”. Congratulations again, Sarah and Tony!
I think it’s interesting that at the end of the year the gospel
reading (John 1:1-18) brings us back to the absolute beginning: In the beginning... As the year’s end
invites us to look back on the completed year with gratitude, the prologue of
John’s gospel invites us to look back as far as “back” goes: In the beginning... (the beginning of
creation of course, since God and the Word have no beginning). And, looking at the beginning, the reading
gives us a capsule summary of the mystery of Christ, the Word.
The Word was in the beginning, but the Word did not stay there
statically. The Word is now. The Word, who became flesh and (literally) pitched
His tent among us, as we have just celebrated at Christmas, remains with us: I will be with you to the end of time
[Mt. 28:20]
We glance at the past year in our rear-view mirror, but keeping our
sight on the present, as we keep moving into our future to be made of an
uninterrupted sequence of presents. It’s
a moment of both gratitude and hope. Gratitude
even as we recognize experiences we regret and hope even as we perhaps fear possible experiences that could
hurt us, knowing all along that we are never alone, because the Word became
flesh and pitched His tent among us, the Word who gave us His word that “I will be with you to the end of time.”
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