The Alpha and Omega
Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 25; PM Psalm 9, 15; Amos 7:1-9; Rev. 1:1-8; Matt. 22:23-33
My favorite Hebrew word is the word for ‘truth’ which is ‘emet’ or אֶמֶת. The three letters are specific as is the case with most of the language. Everything has not only a purpose but relationship. The word is built from the first letter, the middle letter, and the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Truth is not a blip in the history of time, but the beginning, middle, and end. So often we take our limited point of view and claim it with absolute certainty, but God’s truth is much larger and encompasses the entirety of the story. It is not a moment in history but the entire history itself. Everything is a part of God’s truth, the whole story.
Today’s Advent readings take us into the Book of Revelation, a theological exploration of what it means to suffer under persecution and conflict with a hopeful vision cast upon the future. It is from this writing that we garner the image of God as the “Alpha and the Omega,” the beginning and the end, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” God is the whole story.
One of the assumptions with thinking about the ‘whole story’ is our own limited capacity to see the bigger picture. We think we see the whole picture only to learn more of the details at a later point. This is why art, literature, and film are so important. They always uncover other points of view that develop the story in new ways.
What this understanding exposes for all of us are our own limitations to comprehend the larger picture. We think we know the whole picture only to be reminded that God’s truth is a little (or a whole lot) larger. This doesn’t mean that our truth isn’t a part of God’s truth, only that it is not the whole picture. Maybe on good days we get a few letters of the alphabet, but not it all.
I wonder this year more than ever, what it would mean to approach the same story of Christmas with new wonder and expectation that we might not know the whole story. What if there is something new for each of us to discover and to learn? A new present wrapped for each of us waiting to be opened as a gift to change our lives?
John+
Questions for Self-Reflection: When are times in your life when you have learned something new that has changed your perspective? What areas of your life are you being invited to consider learning more or adding more points of view to your perspective?
Daily Challenge: Make today a day of suspending judgment and seeking understanding. Make your goal to learn others’ points of view as opposed to sharing your point of view.