start again

Come to Me/ Goo Goo Dolls

Come to me my sweetest friend

Can you feel my heart again

I'll take you back where you belong

And this will be our favorite song

Come to me with secrets bare

I'll love you more so don't be scared

And when we're old and near the end

We'll go home and start again

________________________________

2019 comes whimpering to an end

It has been a year

I come to this place tired, dealing with pain

Angry, at times

Sad, at times

Rarely hopeful

I also come to this place understanding in a way I never have before

Impermanence

Which is perhaps the same as saying we are dust

And that death is as sure as taxes (unless you are in the 1%)

But is mostly a way to remind ourselves

That we are constantly connecting with life

With others

And with the Sacred in such a way

That we constantly let go

And hand in hand with Love

Start again

And again, and again

New Years is a pale shadow

Of a reality we are to live each moment of our lives

Letting go of what was

Dying, so to speak

And being born again

Into whatever is next

There are many “whatever is next” moments in our lives

And in those moments we feel fragmented and vulnerable

Tumbled about

But there is a next

And if we let the Sacred ‘feel our hearts’ again

Then that next can be transformation

A starting over, and over and over

A return home (in my father’s house are many rooms)

It is not just change

“Change of itself just happens;

spiritual transformation is an active process of letting go,

living in the confusing dark space for a while,

and allowing yourself to be spit up on a new and unexpected shore.” (Rohr)

So in these last few days of 2019

So in these last days of a tumultuous decade

Where we have moved from despair, to hope and back to despair,

join me in looking back, but only briefly

Look back,

And then let go

Let go of the anger and guilt, disappointment and frustration

Let go of the failure

Let go of the old definitions

Let go even of the comfortable, if there was any

So that we can free, for God’s new thing

(and there is a new thing)

The witness is clear and persistent

Paul:  “one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3)

Jesus: “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9)

Isaiah:  “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”  (Isaiah 43)

And lest we forget, Paul, again

(2 Corinthians 5:17)  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, that person is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

A lot has happened

More will happen still

Some of it will cling to us

Weigh us down

Some of it will seek to define us

But we are called by the one who make all things new

To take that Kierkegaardian leap of faith

Take the hand of the sacred

And step into what is new

Start again

And again

And again

God is doing a new thing

Can we not see it?