The seventeenth day of Advent - new beginnings

 The poet and Jesuit priest Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote a  poem called, “Moonless Darkness”:

Moonless darkness stands between.
Past, the Past, no more be seen!
But the Bethlehem-star may lead me
To the sight of Him who freed me
From the self that I have been.
Make me pure, Lord: Thou art holy;
Make me meek, Lord: Thou wert lowly;
Now beginning, and alway:
Now begin, on Christmas day.

I love this poem because it reminds me that Christmas is about beginnings. It is about the sun rising on Christmas morning, as children eagerly wake up to gather with their family, and perhaps open presents. It is about Jesus being born into this world, the beginning of a new era of how we understand God and God’s presence with us. It is about how God formed this plan of salvation from the very beginning, as we read in the beginning of the Gospel of John. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Christmas is about beginnings.

We human beings love beginnings. I think, on the whole, we tend to like beginnings more than endings. We love the thrill of setting out on a journey, when the bags are packed and the door behind us is secure and there is no way to go but forward. We love the feeling of cracking open a new book, not knowing where it will lead. We love watching sunrises, if we happen to be awake; watching the light fill the sky and flood the world around us with colour. And we love babies. We love the promises they hold. We love the new life they represent. We love the idea of a life without burdens or regrets; a life that is full of hope and possibility.

I was invited to a Christmas lunch today. I was a bit late. I was told “there’s nothing left” when I got there. Christmas hope and possibility never runs out. There are in the story every year new things to discover. It was lovely tonight to be at a concert by our local community choir the Skelldale Singers. All the carols and songs they sang were about longing for change in the world and in our hearts. With Jesus with us every day can be a new beginning. Let’s make sure we journey well in this season.