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No through road (23 December)

As we approach the end of 2020, I began to ponder how we use the word ‘end’ in a number of our English idioms or sayings.  Phrases like these: I am at the end of my tether; I have come to the end of the road; where’s it all going to end? at the end of the day…..  These express a sense of, I can’t take any more, there is nowhere else to go or I cannot actually see the end or the more philosophical statement, at the end of the day – meaning, eventually none of it will matter.

The poet TS Elliot wrote this of the subject of ending:

‘What we call the beginning is often the end

And to make an end is to make a beginning

The end is where we start from.’

I wonder how Mary and Joseph may have felt about endings as they approached Bethlehem?  Could they see the end in sight, was the end of the road near?  Was Mary feeling that she had come to the end of her tether and was there a sense of, well at the end of the day the angel said…..?

As Mary and Joseph tried to make themselves comfortable with animals, was there a sense of being glad that journey had ended, but perhaps also a regret that life as they had known it was about to end or even already had ended?  But as the quote above reminds us ‘the end is where we start from’.  They were entering a new way of life like any other new parents, what they could not be totally aware of was that by giving birth to this baby they were bringing a new beginning to all humans and in fact the whole of creation.  As the night closed in around them of their ending, the star shone much brighter of this being the end from which all things would begin.

Perhaps this year, more than many we are regretful and disappointed at what this year has or hasn’t been and we may be full of ‘if onlys’ and only able to see more endings than beginnings.  A wise person once said to me, convert your ‘if onlys’ to ‘even thoughs’.  An ‘if only’ leads to a closed ending, like a no through road, an ‘even though’ leads us to an open ending which draws us to a new beginning and something which can be built on for the future.  For example ‘if only I could have been with family for Christmas’ change it to ‘even though I haven’t been able to be with family at Christmas we are all well’  Try it out for yourself with something you regret about this year.

The star shone bright over the place where the baby lay proclaiming both an ending of all of the waiting for a Messiah and a bright new beginning for the whole of the world. The end has to be the place from which we start and that is what God has done, is doing and will continue to do.

May you know the grace of God, the love of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit surrounding you and those you love this Christmas.