And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been . Rainer Maria Rilke
Meditation: Many think that God never changes. And that theological statement has valid truth in it. Others believe that God walks alongside us. Those probably prefer God as we have witnessed in his son Jesus. And then some believe that God is coming toward us from the future. When I heard this sentence for the first time from the mouth of my professor Juergen Moltmann, I was stunt. I had only thought of God as the One reaching out to us from the past, from the Old Testament and the Jewish tradition. I had known God in Jesus as the One accompanying us on our journeys in the past and in the here and now. But I had never heard that God could come toward us from the future. This image seems to be connected to God as working in the world as the Holy Spirit, and it feels deeply comforting to me. This statement somehow completed the circle of how I can imagine God’s all-encompassing presence. And so, today, we welcome the New Year and we welcome God reaching out to us from the future. We eagerly await the nurturing Spirit of God who promises to create our life full of things that have never been before.
Prayer: God, circle of life, at the end of this year, You are reaching out to us from the future to give to us freely from the spring of the water of life. You want to replenish us, refresh us, strengthen us for what lies ahead. As we enter this New Year, we humbly ask for Your Grace and presence with us as we know You from ages past. We ask for Your present love as we have witnessed it in our Brother Jesus, the Christ. And we ask for Your nurturing and creative Spirit as we enter the threshold of the future. You are our ending and our beginning. And we are grateful! Amen
And He told me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give freely from the spring of the water of life.” Revelation 21:6
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