Midweek Musings for Sunday, January 4, 2015
Christmas 2
  

This week's reflection comes from Rev. Ernie Varga
Dean of the Southern Tier Conference and 

Pastor St. Luke's Lutheran Church, Sidney 

 

Reflecting and Dwelling in the Word
Prayer of the Day

Let us pray:  O God our redeemer, you created light that we might live, and you illumine our world with your beloved Son. By your Spirit comfort us in all darkness, and turn us toward the light of Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives, and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

 Gospel                                                         John 1:1--18

 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2He was in the beginning with God.
3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being
4in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.
5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.
8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.
9The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
10He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him.
11He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.
12But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God,
13who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
14And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.
15(John testified to him and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.'")
16From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
17The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
18No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.
Reflection

Words are the chief means of how we communicate our thoughts and ideas to others. As you read this you are reading words. Have you ever thought about how many words a person uses in a day?  Did you know that women use more words than men?  In doing a search on how many words a person speaks in a day, one source said that women can speak up to 20,000 words in a 24 hour period and men speak about 7,000 to 10,000 words in a 24 hour period.  That is a lot of words.  Wonder how many of them are meaningful or purposeful words?

 

God used many words throughout eternity.  God spoke, "let there be...and there was", as in God's word of creation.  His divine word is important words to us.  Not only does he speaks his words to us but shows us his word.  "The Word became flesh and lived among us."  Not only does he speak and it was done, but he manifested his word in his incarnate Son.

 

John in chapter one shows us that God and Jesus are one in the same. That God in Jesus came down to earth as the revelation of God's word. That in Jesus there is power. This power is for us.  In the incarnate Jesus there is light in the dark paths of life.  When we are in a dark place in our lives, God's word in Jesus shows us our path.

 

In that light there is healing and eternal life.  As Jesus healed the lame and the blind and gave life to Lazarus so Jesus as the light gives us healing and life as well. We are reminded that the light of his healing comes to us in the power of our eternal life that comes through the cross.

 

As we begin a new year we can walk with confidence and hope.  God in Jesus will lead the way for us.  Give us direction as we walk the road of life. Jesus is our hope as we go through the darkness and hopelessness of our world. 


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