After the start of the Israel-Hamas war I heard comments about the end of the world. A couple of people asked me if I thought the end was near. I heard the same kind of comments and questions after the Robb School shooting. I also heard them following the January 6 insurrection. And just a few days ago I spoke with someone who is noticing changes in his life, unrelated to health, and wondering if the end is near.

What about you? Have you ever wondered if the wars and violence in our world today, the increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters, or the changes, suffering, or darkness in your own life are pointing to the end? If you have, you are certainly not alone. That’s been going on at least as far back as the time of Jesus. The disciples thought the end would happen in their lifetime.

So what do you think; are we living in the end times? Is the end of the world near? Is that what Jesus is describing in today’s gospel (Mark 13:24-37) when he says,

“In those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken”? 

I rarely claim to have the answer to anything but I have thought about this and I do believe the end is near and that we are living in the end times. But I don’t think that is unique to us, this particular time, or the particular circumstances of our lives and world today. I think the end of the world is a reality all people, in all places, in all times have lived with. Jesus said as much when he said, “This generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.” 

Every person and every generation experiences the end times. I don’t mean the end of the world, but an ending to our world. Who among us doesn’t know what that is like? When has your world come to an end? In what ways is your world coming to an end today? 

Every one of us could tell a story about the day our world came to an end. It might be a story about grief and suffering or it might be a story about growth and discovery. Either way the world as we knew it came to an end. Things were no longer like they used to be. We experienced a cosmic shift in our life. What used to give light and illumine our life no longer does, the stars by which we once navigated no longer point the way, the powers on which we depended are no longer stable or dependable. 

Sometimes that’s exactly what we’ve been looking or waiting for and other times it’s the last thing we want. Sometimes it’s a loss and other times it’s an opportunity. Regardless, that the end is near is a given for all of us. The end is always near. That reality often captures our attention and incites fear. But what about the beginning? 

I’ve often been asked, “Is the end near?” but I can’t recall ever being asked, “Is the beginning near?” Yet, throughout the gospels Jesus is offering beginnings. They are stories of hope, forgiveness, reconciliation, healing, love, peace, second chances.

Today, the First Sunday of Advent, begins the new church year and our reading of the gospel according to Mark. Do you remember the first two words in Mark’s account of the gospel? “The beginning.” “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” That’s our invitation to be a beginner. It’s specific the invitation in today’s gospel.

Jesus isn’t telling us that the world will end and neither is he giving us signs by which to predict when that will happen. He is, rather, promising that the beginning is near. “From the fig tree learn its lesson,” he says. “As soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.” 

When it looks and feels as if your world is ending a new beginning is near. That doesn’t mean the ending is necessarily easy or painless. It means that what we experience as the end is never the end. Summer is near and the greening power of God is present. (Hildegard of Bingen). The branches of our life are growing and fruiting. 

That’s why Advent is a season of hope and expectation. That’s why Jesus tells us to “keep awake.” He doesn’t want us to fall asleep and miss the new beginning that is coming to us. I wonder what that is for you today?

What would a new beginning offer you today? And what might it ask of you? What new beginning do you need? What would it take to make that beginning? What keeps you from making a beginning? Don’t worry about whether you begin well or poorly, “what is important is to simply begin.” (Whyte, Consolations, “Beginnings,” 23)

What if we saw our lives as Advent sees them, as a beginning drawing near? What if every day is a new beginning which “clears away the crass, the irrelevant and the complicated” so that we might find what is beautiful, essential, and necessary in each day? (Ibid.) 

What if we lived a new beginning every day? Self-criticism, guilt, shame, and judgment would have no role in or power over our lives. We’d look to the future with hope, expectation, and the possibility of the impossible. We might be more gentle with ourselves and one another. 

Maybe our accountability is not to our ending but to the new beginning we make. What if we held ourselves accountable to the beauty, callings, and possibilities coming to us each day? 

If we live each day as a beginning our ending will be just fine. It will take care of itself. “The most important thing to remember is this: To be ready at any moment to give up what you are for what you might become.” (W. E. B. Du Bois)

To give up what we are for what we might become; that’s the beginning Advent offers each of us. And it’s always coming to us. What if that was our daily practice through Advent? To begin again and again and again. To be perpetual beginners. I wonder who you might become. I wonder who I might become. 

If you want to find out, “keep awake.” The beginning is near.

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Image Credit: Photo by Hansjörg Keller on Unsplash.