Every New Beginning
“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.”
In 1998, Semisonic’s “Closing Time” emerged as a catchy hit pop radio listeners soon found lodged in their brains on endless repeat. The surface meaning of the song could not be said to be overtly spiritual- the workers in a bar are announcing the last call for alcohol and that patrons should be gathering up their personal items. The staff doesn’t care if you go home, “but you can’t stay here.”
The song, while equipped with a great tempo and sharing a scene familiar to the college students and young professionals caught up in pre-social media bar culture, also expressed deeper truths regarding the phases of life we all experience.
One memorable line reminds us, “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.”
Last Friday, my dad retired after over 40 years of working in the same factory in rural Tennessee. As I offered him my congratulations by phone that morning, a photo of my young nephew holding a sign declaring his first day of first grade arrived via text. One generation works and earns and strives and retires, and another generation begins the life-long process of education, career, and building lives of their own.
Scripture reminds us in Ecclesiastes 3 that “to everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven” and of all of the Bible’s wisdom, this truth is one we continually experience over and over in our own lives through constant cycles of endings and beginnings.
A large portion of our Lord’s earthly life is summed up in one encompassing verse- “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52). Almost two decades within the life of Jesus, from age 12 to 30, are covered in this simple summary. So much of life happens within that frame of time.
Jesus would have learned a trade, grown up into the fullness of His physical body, honored His parents, made many friends, worked through long hot days, and sat by the fire on cool Galilean nights. He would have heard the old men tell stories and watched the older women bake bread.
He would have traveled with His family to celebrate the holy days and heard the Scriptures read on the Sabbath. He would have prayed each morning before tending to His chores and trading in the marketplace. He would have watched His neighbors and playmates marry and begin families of their own. He would have rested and worked and waited. He would have heard the rumors that His distant cousin, John, had begun to preach repentance and to proclaim watchful readiness because something new- Someone new- was soon to arrive.
And then one day, His moment did arrive.
Now thirty years old (Lk 3:23), Jesus began His public ministry. He had been born for this reason (John 18:37), and the season of His life focused on preparation was ending, and this new season of offering life and hope to all the world had begun.
We often fear seasons of change. We want to cling to the “good ole days” even as we come to realize those days are never coming back. We want to hold to the comfort of our routines and the stability of our lives. Even struggles can be hard to let go of if we have built our identities around the familiar daily tasks of working hard, holding others up, and resisting the darkness of our world.
If we are honest, we realize that time never stops but continually marches forward bringing new challenges as well as new possibilities. Whatever we have passed through has led us to where we are now. There is no going back.
We cannot go back, but we can’t stay here. The only way through is to press forward and to lean into whatever God is calling us toward in our next season of life.
For some of us, we seem to be in a season full of endings, but as believers, we need not fear an unknown future. It may be unknown to us, but we are held and loved by a God who both knows tomorrow and who never fails to bring forth new beginnings from all our ends.