Blind Faith (No. 33, 2008)
“Start strong, finish strong.” Applications of that
sage advice appear in fields as diverse as sports, weight control
programs, public speaking, creative and technical writing, and many
others. Amazing sprints to the finish in this year’s Olympic races
have won gold medals by hundredths of a second. Intense desire to win,
or to bring a project to a successful conclusion often fuels a strong
finish, but getting off to a strong start can be more difficult to
achieve.
When Snoopy sat at his typewriter to begin another novel, he
always began with the cliché` worst-opening-line for a book, “It was a
dark and stormy night….” The line is the actual beginning of the
1830 novel, Paul Clifford, by British novelist Edward George
Earl Bulwer-Lytton. His first paragraph has become infamous for
exemplifying florid, ostentatious, self-contradictory writing. Its
reputation became so widespread that it inspired professors in the
English Department of San Jose University in 1982 to launch an
international literary parody competition, the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction
Contest. Entrants are asked to submit bad opening lines to imaginary
novels. Although Bulwer-Lytton also wrote The Last Days of
Pompeii (made into a movie three times), and originated phrases
such as “the pen is mightier than the sword” and “almighty dollar,” his
place as a cultural icon is secured by the satirical contest and that
almost never credited opening line, “It was a dark and stormy
night….”
Far more positive accolades have enshrined the opening lines of
Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities as paragons of how to start
a novel: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
Dickens (a contemporary of Bulwer-Lytton) goes on to construct a
paragraph deftly foreshadowing the themes of oppression and freedom,
death and resurrection, privilege and squalor portrayed in his
historical novel set during the French Revolution. Dickens both starts
strong in the novel and finishes strong. The last lines of A Tale
of Two Cities are, ” It is a far, far better thing that I do, than
I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I
have ever known.”
Getting off to a strong start can make a profound difference.
Opening lines can seize attention, powerfully directing the reader’s
interest to the major theme of all that is to follow. The Bible starts
with a loaded theological affirmation that resounds through all the
subsequent pages: “In the beginning God ….” (Genesis 1:1, all
versions) Much of our theology is encapsulated in those four words.
Before anything else, God was present, and God’s work of creation
underlies all that follows. God is the principle character, acting
throughout the book to create, sustain, and redeem what he has made.
The Bible’s strong start foreshadows God’s desire to bring us, the ones
created in his image, into loving relationship with himself and one
another.
The Bible finishes strong, too. After telling the story of
mankind’s rebellion against God, and our futile quest for good fortune
and glory on our own terms, it tells about the gracious solution
provided by God, himself, in Jesus Christ. God enters humanity, born
as a baby in Bethlehem, teaches and demonstrates his love in the
ministry of Jesus, and vanquishes sin and death by his crucifixion and
resurrection. Many of the closing pages implore us to follow Jesus’
way of life, loving God and one another as he did. The strong finish
voices a faithful anticipation of the eternal, perfect presence of
Christ in the consummation of God’s Kingdom, along with an all-
sufficient prayer for the interim: ” Come, Lord Jesus! {21} The grace
of the Lord Jesus be with all.” Amen. (Revelation 22:20b-21 NCV) If we
begin with the recognition that God is before all else, and finish with
seeking to be with Jesus and to spread his grace to all, we can achieve
the strong start and the strong finish God wants for us.
Since failing to start strong is more often our downfall, the
Bible offers some encouraging opening lines to some of the individual
books in the collection. Psalms, a favorite source of comfort and
inspiration, starts with a strong description of the conflicting ways
of life we face, and an affirmation of the one we should follow: ”
Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor
stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
{2} But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he
meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:1-2 NKJV) Coming about halfway in
the Bible, this strong start to Psalms helps to reorient our thoughts
to what God has in mind for us to do.
Several New Testament books begin with strong statements of the
core of our faith and our actions that should result from staking our
lives on such a faith. John picks up the theme from the opening lines
of the Bible in Genesis, intrinsically weaving the story of Jesus into
the beginning of all things in God: ” In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the
beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and
without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in
him was life, and the life was the light of all people. (John 1:1-4
NRSV) John’s gospel continues to develop the theme of Jesus as the
origin of life, and the only One through whom we may find life again,
after losing ourselves in rebellion against God and one another. Lest
we forget, a book for second-generation followers of Jesus starts with
a recapitulation of God’s history of loving us and inviting our
faithful love in return, epitomized in the ministry of Jesus: “In the
past God spoke to our ancestors at many different times and in many
different ways through the prophets. {2} In these last days he has
spoken to us through his Son. God made his Son responsible for
everything. His Son is the one through whom God made the universe. {3}
His Son is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact likeness of
God’s being. He holds everything together through his powerful words.
After he had cleansed people from their sins, he received the highest
position, the one next to the Father in heaven.” (Hebrews 1:1-3 GWT)
Hebrews starts with strong reassurance that no other voice calling for
us to follow can lead us more authentically to him than that of Jesus.
John scores another strong start with his first letter, setting the
focus on the profound effect Jesus had on John and his colleagues, the
relationship Jesus invites us to have with himself and fellow
followers, and the task we are to assume as believers in him: ” That
which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen
with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched–this
we proclaim concerning the Word of life. {2} The life appeared; we have
seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life,
which was with the Father and has appeared to us. {3} We proclaim to
you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship
with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus
Christ. {4} We write this to make our joy complete. {5} This is the
message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him
there is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:1-5 NIV) As the last lines of
the Bible say, we are to extend Jesus’ grace to people around us,
inviting them to share the joy of real life through faith in
Christ.
Start strong, finish strong. The good news is that Jesus
continually offers a new start, overcoming our botched beginnings with
the strength of his grace and love. Find a beginning and an end of a
book in the Bible that gives you new hope and strength for living as a
faithful follower of Jesus. Make them your prayer for starting and
finishing your day. Start with Jesus, finish with Jesus. The start
and finish of your day can’t get any stronger than that.
J. Edward Culpepper, Ph.D.
