Not all stories start in the beginning 1. Oftentimes we find ourselves joining a narrative already underway. Unlike the oft quoted line in “Station Eleven”2 there is most definitely a before as well as what is to come. The Biblical text has a clear beginning, Genesis, but also offers each of us new beginnings.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1 NASB

Adonai made me as the beginning of his way, the first of his ancient works.

Proverbs 8:22 CJB

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.

John 1:1-2 BSB

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

2 Corinthians 5:17 NASB2020

…not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

Ephesians 1:20-21 NIV

A new beginning for me started back in 2014 as I helped one of my kids attempt to memorize John 1:12 for their Sunday school class. Over the next few weeks I would memorize and meditate on John 1:1-18 and now many years later these words remain easy to recall and meditate on. An immediate side effect of this was I almost immediately began seeing connections throughout the text, and I had only put a small portion of scripture to memory.

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—

John 1:12 NIV

Thanks to a group of friends willing to ask questions about the Bible, some that might make others uncomfortable, I became more open to new ideas and curiosity of the scriptures. Those questions led to discussions and further personal study. This journey led to learning more about the context and layers within the Biblical writings that I hadn’t remembered seeing before. It was a fresh season of learning and shaping of my worldview.

And now for another new beginning, this blog. A next step in synthesizing all that I have learned, making it my own and sharing with others along the way. Perhaps you will read through the Bible with me in 2023.

Here’s to beginning something new!

Breadcrumbs

  • Consider reading John 1:1-18
  • 1 Hebrew: רֵאשִׁית –
    re.shit; ray-sheeth’ – H7225
    Greek: archē; G746
    Meaning: Beginning, first
  • 2 I never read the book but I saw the show on HBO - Station Eleven