New Beginnings

One of my friends unwittingly sent me on a treasure hunt tonight with his Facebook status. I knew it was a line from either a poem or a hymn, as that's what he typically posts on Friday nights. Usually I know where they come from, but tonight I couldn't place it. Longfellow, I thought. Or Tennyson.

When I Googled the phrase, the first hit sent me to an archived Easter sermon from Boston University's Marsh Chapel. Powerful. I'm glad I found and read it. But it did not credit the lines. So I went back to Google and clicked on the next entry. This time, I got sent to another Easter sermon site. And again, the lines were not credited. Still, the message was strong, and I'm the better for having read it.

Going back yet again to Google, I finally found a site that gave all the lyrics to Brian Wren's new (1978) hymn where I was able to see the lines (third verse) in their context. I can see why they would work for Easter time, but I like them for tonight, for the New Year, for starting anew yet one more time. The most wonderful thing to me is in the last line where it says "our God is making all things new." The truth is, each day is a new opportunity to start afresh with God. He is steady, He is constant. He is always there for us. But each new day, each new year, each new decade is our chance to start anew as well.

So, "Then let us, with the Spirit's daring, step from the past, . . . seeking new beginnings . . . . Happy New Year!

This Is A Day Of New Beginnings

This is a day of new beginnings,
time to remember and move on,
time to believe what love is bringing,
laying to rest the pain that’s gone.

For by the life and death of Jesus,
love’s mighty Spirit, now as then,
can make for us a world of difference,
as faith and hope are born again.

Then let us, with the Spirit’s daring,
step from the past and leave behind
our disappointment, guilt, and grieving,
seeking new paths, and sure to find.

Christ is alive, and goes before us
to show and share what love can do.
This is a day of new beginnings;
our God is making all things new.

-Brian Wren, 1978