Beginnings

Each of this week’s readings describes a beginning. Ecclesiastes describes many new beginnings as a time for one purpose to be replaced by a time for another. The psalm describes God’s constant renewal of creation, in which God’s relationship with creation begins anew each day. Jeremiah describes the beginning of a new season for God’s people, where sorrow is replaced by joy and tears of forsakenness give way to shouts of joy. John’s Prologue describes the very beginning, in which all things came into being through the Word (who “was with God and . . . was God”). Ephesians highlights the possibility of a new beginning for those of us who have been adopted into God’s family through Jesus and the spiritual inheritance that is available to us through this adoption.

• Read Psalm 147:12-20. Can you recall a time of spiritual growth in which things were not going well for you, and praising God was hard?
• Read Jeremiah 31:7-14. Have you ever praised God for something that God had not yet done? If not, can you imagine doing so?
• Read John 1:1-18. Pay special attention to verse 18. How has God been made known in your life?
• Read Ephesians 1:3-14. What does it mean to you to have been adopted by God?