I am the Alpha and the Omega – the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life.

Revelation 21:6 NRSV

John 1:2 says Jesus is the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. 

Hebrews 9 says So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him.

Hebrews 13 says that Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Please do not miss this. Jesus is not simply at the beginning but that he is the beginning. He is not just at the end as a passive bystander but he is the end. The sum of all of creation, including humanity, is initiated and finds its completion in the person of Christ.

One of these you can miss: the beginning. You can argue against it. But the other will be clear to everyone. And just as the soccer referee holding the whistle ready to blow it at the end of a match, so is Jesus ready to declare things complete. This will take place either at our last breath or his next appearance.

That means we have today. And even today is bound up in Christ’s presence as it is a gift given out of his patience and kindness. Today is the day to respond…for it the gift we are given to respond to the grace which transforms our past and assures our future.