Standing at the gateway to a new year – I went back to go forward – I went back to revisit my post at the end of 2020. Here’s the post. Last year my phrase was “Next Year in Jerusalem.” But this year, in light of the surging COVID variants and all we’ve been through, my sense looking ahead is more of a “dénouement.”
As you may know “Dénouement” is a French word meaning to “untie the knot,” often used in literature, film, or theater to describe an ending to a narrative. Dénouement is the point in the story after the climax, in which the conflict is resolved. Yet the word conveys something of an ending that is also a new beginning, and very often captures an ending that is somewhat unsatisfying and ambiguous.
That’s kinda how I feel about the ending of 2021… an unsatisfying conclusion to a complex year. I am grateful for the coming of 2022. “Next year in Jerusalem” still woes me into the future with resurrection hope.
My father-in-law reminded me of a poem by Minni Louise Haskins. The first stanza was famously quoted by His Majesty King George VI as part of his 1939 Christmas broadcast:
The Gate of the Year
by Minnie Louise Haskins
And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.” And he replied: “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.” So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East. So heart be still: What need our little life Our human life to know, If God hath comprehension? In all the dizzy strife Of things both high and low, God hideth His intention. God knows. His will Is best. The stretch of years Which wind ahead, so dim To our imperfect vision, Are clear to God. Our fears Are premature; In Him, All time hath full provision. Then rest: until God moves to lift the veil From our impatient eyes, When, as the sweeter features Of Life’s stern face we hail, Fair beyond all surmise God’s thought around His creatures Our mind shall fill.
Peace, dwight
