By Chrissy Tatum Williamson

Words for the Beginning. Beginnings are exciting, they fly on the wings of vulnerable hopes; and they are tethered by risk of not becoming reality. Advent is a season of beginnings. These are characterized by hope and fear, reward and risk, preparation and whimsy, and the reality that before anything can begin, some things will end. 

In a lot of ways, Mary, the expectant mother of Jesus, was also in between some endings and beginnings – some large and some small, some personal and some very public. Somehow, though, Mary found the courage to give voice to God’s dream for a new creation (Luke 1:46-55). In this season of Advent, as we root ourselves in the stories of Jesus’ birth and all that it took to get Jesus born (Mary, angels, donkeys, Joseph, innkeepers, etc.), let us also consider our own beginnings… and endings. And let us pay close attention to the words of our faith that help us face each new day with hope (albeit vulnerable), with joy (though it may seem fleeting), with peace (illusive as it may be), and with love (at all costs). 

Let these things – hope, joy, peace, and love – be the words that shape our new beginnings this year.