Moments of Origin

Hurrying for a book to read whilst on the toiletis hardly real. Keeping that 'new thing' new is the
(yes, I have to admit I have been known to readprize of attractiveness, though it doesn't help us
on the toilet), I grabbed off the shelf, andmuch apart from the issues of vanity we
serendipitously opened up, my copy of the Bibleinnocuously glare at.
Speaks Today commentary, The Message ofAnd this brings me to my main point. There's a
Jeremiah (by Derek Kidner). I never realised it hadmystery which surrounds the origin of the new
never before been opened--having owned it forthing--we can hardly picture (with any accuracy of
some three or more years I fought a mix ofvisual knowledge) where it came from or how it
emotions: a mild embarrassed shame for havingcame to us.
an unexplored book on my shelf but reticence toOur own moments of origin and our very
crease the binding. (Don't you just love the smelldestinations are also mysteries to us. We cannot
of a new book?)recall the day of our births; though some these
As I flicked through the pages, nervously at adays might have video footage of the event! We
subconscious level--wanting those pages tocannot quite grasp how our origin into the 'other
miraculously advance in their used state inlife,' beyond this one, will eventuate--that
becoming more weathered looking, I recognisedwonderful/terrible day of our physical deaths.
again this tension that arose within me.Yet, in all this we have moments of origin
It's the cherished wonder of something brandoccurring to us or around us all the time.
new and also something very 'ancient' andEverything has its place as a new thing--bar one:
weathered-looking. The in-between state's notGod. He was never new. He just is. He's always
that special, is it? It's like an Australian testbeen. He always will be.
cricketer thrilled at receiving their baggy green onGod birthed us through the physical union of a
day one, yet then cherishing it worn andfather and mother; he carried us through the
thread-bare one hundred tests later.womb--in much gestational anguish to the
All things new must eventually be de-virginised. It'sparents--and he delivered us safely into their
not like the souvenir we take 'straight to thearms. We never knew this; it simply occurred to
poolroom,' complete with its plastic packaging, a laus. (It 'occurred' to our parents too.)
The Castle (1997).The moment of origin is an awesome wonder
New things have about them an attraction whichshrouded in mystery.