Today's Scripture Readings
Exodus 33:18-23 (NRSV)
Moses said to God, "Show me your glory, I pray." And he said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you the name, `The LORD'; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But," he said, "you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live." And the LORD continued, "See, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock; and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen."
Psalm 92 (BCP., p. 720)
1 John 1:1-9 (NRSV)
We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life-- this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us-- we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
John 21:19b-24 (NRSV)
Jesus said to Peter, "Follow me."
Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; he was the one who had reclined next to Jesus at the supper and had said, "Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?" When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, "Lord, what about him?" Jesus said to him, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!" So the rumor spread in the community that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?"
This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true.
Blog Reflection
St. John is my favorite of the Apostles and Evangelists. I have a special affection for St. John. Christmas just would not be what it is for me personally, without the words of the Prologue of St. John's Gospel chapter 1:1-14. The first letter of John later in the New Testament is not only eloquent in its form and content, but it's message about the importance of loving God and our neighbor is so very clear.
St. John's message of The Word and love, while they hold that special attraction for me; they are also the most challenging. I love to write the words "Love one another as I have loved you", but, when it comes to doing what they mean I am as much a hypocrite as anyone else is. If I am a hypocrite in any way with these words, it is because of my greatest personal and spiritual challenge. I often have very high expectations of myself. When I am not able to meet those high expectations, I become even more self-centered. Instead of loving another as Christ has loved me, I end up staying even more focused on myself than as I was before . Thomas Merton in his book The Rule of St. Benedict: Initiation into the Monastic Tradition 4 tells me that in so doing I indulge my "false-sense of self."
In the Prologue to The Rule of St. Benedict, he writes, "the Lord waits for us daily to translate into action, as we should, his holy teachings. Therefore our life span has been lengthened by way of a truce, that we may amend our misdeeds. As the Apostle says: do you not know that the patience of God is leading you to repent (Rom 2:4)? And indeed the Lord assures us in his love: I do not wish the death of the sinner, but that he turn back to me and live (Ezek 33:11). (RB 1980: The Rule of St. Benedict in English, p.18).
How can I or anyone for that matter "translate into action, his holy teaching"?
On this Feast of St. John the Apostle and the Evangelist, St. Augustine of Hippo gives to me (and may be you too) some kind of answer.
"Now this Word, whose flesh was so real that he could be touched by human hands, began to be flesh in the Virgin Mary's womb; but he did not begin to exist at that moment. We know this from what John says: What existed from the beginning. Notice how John's letter bears witness to his Gospel, which you just heard a moment ago: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.
Someone might interpret the phrase the Word of life to mean a word about Christ, rather than Christ's body itself which was touched by human hands. But consider what comes next: and life itself was revealed. Christ therefore is himself the Word of life" (The Liturgy of the Hours, Volume 1, Advent and Christmas Seasons, p. 1267).
In this Christmas Season as we begin returning to the real world, we are confronted with the reality of life. There is darkness, discrimination, oppression, violence, neglect of the sick, poor and more. We are equally confronted with our own human limitations that help us to rely more on God and less on ourselves. We are once again brought to the reality that we are all social beings, and therefore being part of a community that embraces us as we are is essential for our salvation.
Jesus, The Word made Flesh and the call to love others by St. John is our alarming wake up call and purpose for "beginning again."
Amen.
Prayers
Shed upon your Church, O Lord, the brightness of your light,
that we, being illumined by the teaching of your apostle and
evangelist John, may so walk in the light of your truth, that
at length we may attain to the fullness of eternal life; through
Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the
Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for St. John. The Book of Common Prayer, p.238).
O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully
restored, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may
share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our
humanity, your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for the Incarnation. The Book of Common Prayer, p.252)
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