Begin Again

Doug Heatwole

The new year brings aspirations and expectancy. When we hear the words "a new beginning" we may be inspired to let go of our resistance to change and welcome something potentially better than the status quo.

In Revelation 21:5, God said, "Behold, I am making all things new."

Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again, he must seek to become a new being, to begin again. (John 3:3)

We begin again as we celebrate the birth of Christ, this world-changing event of God becoming human. The Lord said, "I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?" (Isaiah 43:19)

After the shepherds told Mary and Joseph the angel's words about the child, "she treasured and pondered these things in her heart." She began to perceive the new thing God was doing through her.

We begin again each time we receive the Lord's Supper, taking in Christ, ingesting his divine essence, being transformed into his likeness.

We rise and begin again each morning, renewed by our sleep.

We begin afresh our relationship with God each time we surrender ourselves in prayer to the One who is at our center.

In this new year, we begin again as a local chapter of Contemplative Outreach. Like Mary, we are all pregnant with God, co-creating, re-producing, making new.

​In this new year may we be expectant and excited of the good that is coming in us and through us by the power of God's Spirit.