Reset Button – December 1
Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 119:1-24; PM Psalm 12, 13, 14; Amos 3:12-4:5; 2 Pet. 3:1-10; Matt. 21:23-32
As I write this, it is the early morning of December 1 in the first week of Advent. The first day of a new month. A new beginning. There is something refreshing about having a mindset of a fresh start. A time to reset. A time to be open to the possibility of what is to come. At that threshold, I also look back at what has passed – in the last month, in the last year, across the last four decades of my memory. Pausing to reflect on where and when God’s presence has been with me. Giving thanks for the memories that are seared in love and loss. And while I get swept into tributaries of side-thoughts, I hear in my heart the prayerful words of my Education for Ministry (EfM) mentor from many years ago: “For all that was, for all that is, for all that will be, thanks be to God.”
One of the first times I heard those words from Katy Smith, I was still very raw emotionally. My mom had died, and I was really struggling with grief and loss. With trepidation and tears, I stumbled through a spiritual autobiography, retelling my life story. A story that felt shattered without my mom in it. In framing a version of my own lived experience through the lens of faith in that small group setting, it was a fresh start for me – a pinnacle to look out and see all around, before beginning a journey of understanding, sharing, reading, praying, and learning.
Here’s the paradoxical thing about being at a threshold point: it is an exhilarating feeling of standing upon a mountaintop with the greatest perspective, and simultaneously it is the humble first step on a journey that is not fully revealed.
I wonder what Jesus’ interactions of the chief priests and elders in Matthew 21 would have looked like if the temple-folk had the view that we have now. Could they have seen Jesus’ teaching in the temple with fresh eyes? Would they have been open to believing God’s promise of the Messiah was being fulfilled in real time? What question would the chief priests have offered to deepen their understanding of Jesus’ exposition of the Torah? We know from this account in Matthew that the question offered was not germane to Jesus’ thesis of the day, rather it was a request for credentials: “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?”
Friends, take this reflection as an invitation to the bold vulnerability of wonder in this season of Advent. None of us know all of the answers. Let us put on the garment of childlike faith. Find a space to take stock of what is in the past. Feel the hurt. Name the joy. Know that God was with you in the crevices. And the beauty is here. And will be. Thanks be to God.
-- Katherine+
Questions for Reflection
What does having a fresh start mean for you today? Where is that an invitation? Where is it an impossible dream?
When met with wonder and newness, how do you respond?
Daily Challenge
Write down the words, “For all that was, for all that is, for all that will be, thanks be to God.” Sit with this prayer. Write down the things that bubble up for you in the categories “was” and “is”. Now, ponder and pray about the “will be” – that God’s will be done.