In The Ongoing

01.01.14

Genesis 1.1 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.[a]

[a] Or, In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, . . . Or When

Luke 1.2 2 They used the eyewitness reports circulating among us from the early disciples.[a]

[a] 1:2 Greek:  …from those who from the beginning were servants of the word.

Most of the time the footnotes in the Bible get my attention – like this morning: footnote [a] in Genesis 1.1 and footnote [a] in Luke 1.2. In Genesis 1.1 an alternative way of saying this helps us, who live in the realm and constraints of time. The word, when helps give the phrase some color we can identify with. We say things like: remember when…? The, when, gives us a better sense of the past.

In Luke’s gospel there is also an [a]. The Greek rendering of verse 2 reads: They used the eyewitness reports from those who from the beginning were servants of the word. This helps us to know this isn’t just a fanciful tale Luke decided to concoct; it was, in fact, a reporting of the actual eyewitnesses, who, “…from the beginning were servants of the word.” A servant is one who is entrusted with a charge to execute and keep.

You and I don’t live in the beginning, nor are we those who reported from the beginning; we are the people of the ongoing. Our lives are separated from the past by the span of time. We call today, New Year’s Day, because to us, the chapter has closed on last year and the book has opened on this year, the new year with all it has to offer.

When we began last year we probably hadn’t much thought for this year. As we begin this year we’re probably more apt to think about next year like Scarlett O’Hara, in Gone with the Wind: I’ll think about that tomorrow. But you know what, tomorrow never comes; it’s always today. And today is the age of the ongoing.

Two things for me as I begin the New Year and learn again to take one day at a time because it is all I have:

1.    I am glad for the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth and included me in His plans. I am glad for the beginning of my life and all the experiences I’ve had over the years. I’m glad God saw fit to create me in His Own Image and has chosen that I belong to His clan.

2.    I am glad today for those, who from the beginning were servants of the Word. I choose to live my life accordingly. As 2014 has opened and 2013 has closed my responsibility is to live this year, one day at a time as a servant of the Word, doing what it says, and helping my fellow man in the process. I start this new year not knowing all of the answers, but knowing Someone who does. And when He did what He did when He did it, He included me to be a part – awesome!

Father God, as I on-go into this New Year, may I make the most of every moment of every day. I don’t know what is going to happen along the way, but I do know You, and come what may, You love me, care for me, and have promised to provide for me. Help me to live in that knowledge gratefully and humbly, and to leave tomorrow to tomorrow. Amen.