The End and The Beginning

Then he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. (Revelation 21:6)

Today, at 9:30 AM EST, bells all across the U.S. will toll 27 times.
Some websites will go dark.
Our President will mark a moment of silence.

Today, we remember the way the world came to an end a week ago for the families of the 20 children who never left their classroom.

Forget the Mayans, or our collective obsession with predicting Hollywood-style apocalypses as often as possible. The end did come. And it will come again.

For some, it was the end of innocence...at least for now. Innocence will return though, in fragile ways, but it will return.

For some, it was the end of the belief that at heart, people are actually good. Good still exists, though...it just exists beyond us, and our challenge is to daily invite it to dwell within us.

For some, it was the end of a myth...the myth of Mayberry, where small towns are not touched by the pain and suffering more obvious in urban environments.

Last Friday was the end of one world.

But God was already busy renewing and re-creating another world.
A world where myths motivate kindness, where Good infuses daily acts, and where innocence shows up in a new birth...even a birth 2000 years ago.

I have survived many times when my world ended. So have you.
And inevitably, I have always found some things shattered, but other things strengthened.
It usually isn't obvious when the foundations of my world are being shaken,
but the above promise from Revelation is true at a deeper level than we often realize.

Christ, and his love, are not just present in the cosmic beginning and ending,
but in all our beginnings and endings.

This is the profound truth behind the book of Revelation that we often miss when we are trying to manipulate it to be like our Hollywood apocalypses...
the truth is simple: God's Love will always have the final move.

Revelation isn't just about the year 1000, or 2000, or 2008 (remember that prediction?) or 2012. It is about today, and the daily struggle to cling to God's promises in the face of all sorts of "ends."

So, whether you are filled with the hope of new beginnings today, or the struggles of different "ends," know that all of it...ALL of it...is wrapped in God's love.

(And a tip of the hat to the Mayans for giving us another excuse to talk about the end of the world!
Any bets on when the next prediction will be?)