Beginning Again
Typically on the day prior to classes beginning, campus is abuzz with students doing a variety of things to get ready such as buying books and meandering around greeting each other. The Tuesday before classes start many things usually take place: the band leading the student organizations and others as they march toward Convocation, the annual update from our Chancellor during Convocation at the David J. Prior Convocation Center, an activities fair after with a cookout on the lawn by the lake, and the annual Wesley Buffalo Bash back-to-school cookout. It's eerily quiet today.
Chancellor Henry did lead a virtual Convocation this morning. Students are on campus; but, not out and about as in years past. The activities fair for on-campus student organizations will be held at a future date. Wesley Fellowship starts next week on September 1. The Buffalo Bash is delayed until a later date.
It’s the beginning again; but, it isn’t the start of a semester anything like I’ve experienced before. No one has experienced this. Yet, here we are. Beginning again.
It reminds me of the end of what we know of Job’s story in the Bible. Job’s story frustrates me and I get upset each time I think of the conclusion of his story. In case you aren’t familiar with his story: Job loses everything.
every.
thing.
Many people say Job was a patient man; but, I think he was frustrated and sad. I think he was angry. He was certainly grieving. I know he suffered much. He was patient in his faithfulness to God - to complete the work began in him. I’m not convinced he was the patron saint of patience that we think of when we refer to having “the patience of Job.” Most of the time that cliché refers to someone who is calm and reserved while experiencing something awful. In any case, my thoughts on patience and Job aren’t what I’m writing about today. Read the book of Job and let me know if you think he was the epitome of patience, as indicated in the common cliché.
After Job loses everything (his things, his people, and all the stuff on Earth that gave meaning to his life), he experiences beginning again. In the final chapter (42), his “fortunes are restored twofold.” That is, he ends up with twice as much as he had before. His relationships flourish. He lived to be old, surrounded with people he loved.
He loses everything. Then he gains everything. But, it isn’t the everything he suffered and grieved over. Here was Job: Beginning again. God was with him. God did not leave, nor forsake him. God completed the work began in Job.
Whether you are a first-time freshman, near-retirement faculty member, or somewhere between those two life experiences, know this: we are all beginning again. You are not alone. God is with you. God has not, and will not, leave nor forsake you. God will complete the work began in you.
Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. Romans 8:26-28 (MSG)
Wesley love,
campus minister Beth
Photo by Simon Migaj on Unsplash
