Beginning Again: New Mercies Everywhere

There’s something strangely hopeful about a fresh start. I love new days, new weeks, new months, new years. Starting new books or new work unlocks all sorts of dreamy thoughts of what-if or what-could-be. For the most part, a blank page is welcomed, open space for new ideas to take shape.

New starts are all around us, and we grab after them with greed and hunger. Our hearts are always looking for the new thing that will fully satisfy. The reflection of this truth can be seen everywhere—in the stories we are drawn to, in the relationships we pursue, in the justice we seek. We want new; we want perfection.

In this issue of Christ and Pop Culture Magazine, we take a look at our need for and pursuit of new beginnings.

Jeff Porter speaks of the film industry’s near obsession with remakes and adaptations in his feature, “More than a Sequel: Heaven Is Our Reboot”:

“We are drawn to sequels and prequels because they promise to take us back to a place we remember enjoying. We are drawn to reboots and remakes because they promise to recreate encounters with characters and stories that once gave us comfort. We love these films because they promise to give us something we remember being perfect.”

What Porter dissects in our movie preferences is just as true for organizational structures in need of reform. Injustice and corruption stir our hearts for reform, for beginning again with a better system. Ethan McCarthy explains this in his feature, “Fixing FIFA: Is a New Beginning Possible?” which sorts out the recent scandals in professional soccer:

“But the language of reform is ubiquitous in our society, and it’s something to consider. We hear it regularly: For every corrupt institution, there’s someone who wants to reform it and who has lots of ideas for how it ought to be done. We’re promised reform in our government, in our financial institutions, and in our churches. It’s all too easy to throw around the language of reform—of beginning again. It sounds so good to us because we want to believe it so badly.”

How I long to believe that beginning again is not only possible, but also sustainable and good. For if it cannot be achieved in stories or in organizational systems, is there hope for newness within?

These external proofs point to our desire for new starts, but there is no more convincing evidence of our yearning for new starts than our heart’s pursuit for spiritual redemption. This is where the supernatural kicks in, for such reform is God’s doing. Adam Kane’s moving personal account of God’s provision is outlined in “Walking on Broken Legs: The Good Crack of the Shepherd’s Staff.” Kane admits:

“I had never thirsted for God before; I had sometimes hoped He would rescue me, often I had prayed for some sort of deliverance for others, but never had my soul cracked open in its utter dryness, driving me to Him for water. This was some new trick of His, or something of His ‘deep magic,’ for I had not given God permission to give me my first birth, and while I was busy railing against Him for it, He gave me my second.”

Kane is right. As much as we long to begin again, and as much as we can’t get it without God, we often refuse His offer—out of pride, ignorance, mistrust. God’s kindness gives us new mercies each morning, in the stories we seek, in the systems we reform, in the depths of our souls. Beginning again is mystery. It is grace.

—Erin Straza

Illustration courtesy of Seth T. Hahne. Check out his graphic novel and comic review site, Good Ok Bad.