Faces on Faith: Crossing the threshold
No doubt you know that the month of January was named for the Roman god Janus — the god of transitions, beginnings and doorways. Indeed, the name Janus comes from the Latin word for door.
As a monotheist I don’t subscribe to the idea of multiple gods and goddesses. I don’t have a special deity for each and everything in our lives. In fact I have one deity — one God — for all the aspects of my living. But this idea of seeing January as a doorway is intriguing.
Doorways can, of course, be seen as both exits and entrances. We come out of doorways — and we come into them as well. They mark both the finish of one thing and the start of another. And so it is with the first weeks of January. I don’t know about you, but it always takes me a couple of weeks before I start writing the year, new year date on checks! I linger a bit in the past year before moving fully into the new one.
This past year was a very challenging one for most of us. And many people have said, good riddance! Happy to move on. But like every year, this January, as we move into this new year, we will leave behind some things, both good and bad, and carry forward others. And for all our fears, and all our hopes, we really don’t know what all lies ahead. But as people of faith we do know this. Whatever we may face, we face it not alone. We face it together and we face it with God.
The Rev. Dr. John H. Danner is the senior pastor at Sanibel Congregational United Church of Christ.