Beginnings
I love a good beginning – take “Pride and Prejudice” for instance: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife”. Also, if you consider “Rebecca” by Daphne du Maurier we have start with the line: “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again”. Likewise, the Gospel according to John starts with the line: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”.
Beginnings are important but they are not the story. We have to progress beyond the first line to find out what the author is writing about. Beginnings engage us and Christmas is about beginnings: it is the time when God entered his world in human form as Jesus Christ. But Christmas is just a beginning. As we read the gospels, we learn about why Jesus was born. Jesus came to be our saviour and liberator. We start at Christmas but we must continue to discover the good news of salvation – good news that tells of crucifixion on Good Friday and resurrection on Easter day. Christmas is a time for joy but it is only a taste of the joy that God has offered us.
Jesus is the sign of the love that God has had for us through all the ages that have been and will be. Such love requires a response from us. Let us move beyond the beginning and enter into the story of God’s love for us. Let us remind others of what the story really is.
David Bradshaw
December 2007