Philippians 3:12-14 – Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. (NRSV)

The corner of Yonge and Dundas streets in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, will never look the same again at the Square that bore those two names. Soon this part of the city will bear the name "Sankofa Square", a concept that I have used in sermons ever since visiting Africa in the late 1990s.

The Akan people of Ghana have a proverb that goes, "Se wo were fi na wosankofa a yenkyi." Literally translated, it means, "It is not wrong (taboo) to go back and fetch what you forgot." From the proverb comes the word "Sankofa", which means "Go back and get it." The symbol of Sankofa is a bird moving forward but with its head turned backward, in effect, going forward yet remaining conscious of the past and the wisdom contained there.

The Sankofa proverb from Ghana teaches that we should reach back to our roots and gather the best of what our past has to teach us so that we can achieve our full potential as we move forward. Whatever we have lost, forgotten, foregone, or been stripped of, can be reclaimed, revived, preserved, and perpetuated.

Here we are, having begun yet another year. We have much to look back upon in the year 2023 and, hopefully, much to learn from the lessons that it had to teach us in order to make 2024 a better year: a year to end war and violence, a year to address homelessness and hunger, a year to come to grips with climate change. It is important to take the lessons of the past into the new year ahead of us and just as important to strain forward to what lies ahead.

Romans 15:4 – For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (NIV)

"Life must be understood backward. But it must be lived forward." – Søren Kierkegaard

Prayer: Help us, Gracious One, to learn from the past and to embrace the future that You have in store for us in 2024. Amen.

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About the author:

Kenn Stright <kennethstright@yahoo.ca>
West Petpeswick, Nova Scotia, Canada
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