The End is…

To say that I read all the time is a bit of an understatement.  I read for enjoyment.  I read to stay informed.  I read to stay relevant.  I read fiction and non-fiction.  I read scholarship and a good bit of fantasy.  I read memoirs and philosophical ponderings.  I read, read, read, and read some more.

What I always find interesting when I read is how authors end books.  Sometimes the ending of a book comes quickly because of some situation the author went through, consider The Diary of Anne Frank.  Sometimes the author has been building to it for both the book itself or even a series, seriously either The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings books are perfect examples here.  Yet, sometimes, the ending sneaks up on us and we don’t quite know what to do next.

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I’ve had many books just seemingly give information yet leave me with little to do with what I just absorbed or went through.  In those cases, I can find myself wondering, “What’s next?”  To be honest, the Bible itself as a whole and a number of the books within can leave us pondering that question.  Take Mark’s telling of the Gospel.  It starts all of a sudden and thrusts us right into the action at Jesus’ baptism; then moves us from scene to scene, teaching to teaching, and miracle to miracle all before guiding us along holy week.  Yet Mark’s ending is so brief (especially in our oldest copies of the text) that a resurrected Jesus doesn’t even appear!  It’s almost like the author wanted us to go back to the beginning and reread the book for more.

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Our lives can feel like that sometimes.  Beginnings and endings happen all the time.  Some we see for a while approaching like a ship docking in port; and some, catch us off guard leaving us to process the grief we never expected.

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Interestingly, I ponder how the church year is like that too.  Over the next few weeks, we’ll hear descriptions of ‘the end,’ of how Christ will return, and how God’s reign will be everlasting as it has been all along.  Yet, “What do we do with it?  How do we live with all of it?”  Perhaps like Mark, it’s a good thing that we go back to the beginning with the start of Advent (Latin for approaching, or coming towards).  And still I ask us, ‘What do we do with all that we have gone through, all that we have read, all that we have heard?”

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The End is at hand.  And yet, is it just the opportunity to reflect and go back to the beginning?  What endings are near and coming for you?  What endings can you see?  What endings could actually bring you life?  How could God be growing you to return back to the original story of blessing through Christ Jesus our Lord?