the Life was the Light of all people

It's Evangelist John's version of the Christmas story:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him, not one thing came into being. John 1:1-3a

"Word" in this passage is "logos" in Greek. Logos can be loosely translated into English as "word". Not simply those little clumps of letters separated by spaces--the ones I'm typing and that you are reading now. And we also shouldn't think of it as we often do in a modern sense when we talk about "the word of God" and mean our favorite illustrated, hard-bound, annotated and copyrighted version of the Bible. No, this logos is a living, Divine Agent that welds together words, thought and activity.

What has come into being in him was life, the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:3b-5

Logos in John begins with the same root as the second half of the compound terms we are so familiar with today. For example, the term psychology. Literally translated, psychology means "that which is known, said, thought and taught about the mind/soul continuum".

John tells us that this logos was there at "the beginning". That means, at creation. As if eternity could have a beginning. But we say and believe that the stuff that exists has a beginning.

This creative mind/soul continuum not only made all things but illuminates all things and has entered the created order of things with light. Light that is life. Life that is light.

Light by definition cannot do other than shine or it isn't light. Where light is, darkness cannot possibly be. Light is, by definition, by action, by illumination, the destroyer of darkness. Light is not absence. Light is presence. Darkness doesn't have to do anything. It can't do anything because it is the absence of everything.

Light has to be the presence of something. It has to do something. It has to shine. It has to be. It is. Therefore, what else could you call it but life?

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. John 1:6-8

Testify... Witness... English words with the same Greek antecedent: martyreo. Yes, one who testifies to or witnesses to is one who "martyrs" self to... In other words, one who demonstrates by their whole being what their psyche, their body/mind/soul continuum is about, what it is animated by, energized by, what it lives for. And by whom it lives.

The true light which enlightens everyone was coming into the world. John 1:9

According to John, this logos, this light, this life, is Jesus of Nazareth, the One God present in Jesus of Nazareth. Not only God made flesh, but God permeating and imbuing everything with something that does what light does. (See above discussion of the contrast between light and darkness.)

That photograph above? We took it on a short weekend at Cannon Beach, OR. August 2008. Jean knew something was not right but did not yet know that she had a brain tumor. Kiwi fruit-sized brain tumor.

In the days and weeks after the photo was taken, we would not so much remember the photo itself but the incredible, surrounding presence of the light that afternoon. After I had taken the shot, I looked back at Jean. She was in tears. "So beautiful!" she sobbed. "It's just so beautiful!"

That's what the Evangelist John is bringing with his symphony of basic Greek words: a witness to light that is life all around us and in us and through us.

Where darkness can no longer be because the Light has shined. Here. Arrived. Shining....

Merry Christmas, and thank you, John.

May the Light be with you all!

Roger

P.S. The word photography? Yeah, Greek too. It means "writing with light". Cool, huh?

In The Wilderness Prepare the Way...

Luke 3 quotes Isaiah 40. Luke 3 is introducing John the Baptizer as the one who prepares the way. John is in the wilderness crying out, "Prepare the way of the Lord."

That's not what Isaiah 40 says exactly. To a discouraged, dmoralized people who believe the Lord has dumped them or forgotten them, the prophet Isaiah is the voice crying, "In the wilderness prepare the way!"

Moses asked Pharaoh to free his people so that they could go into the desert to worship. We understand that as a request for religious freedom. Actually, it would become more a time of religious instruction. Maybe Israel couldn't properly worship YHWH in Egypt because they didn't have sufficient time off or because it was prohibited. Or maybe it was because Israel could never properly know or worship or depend on YHWH so long as they depended on Momma Egypt for safety, security, identity, work and food security.

It took 40 years, two generations in the wilderness, to grow the Egypt out of the Israelites. There would be more wilderness in their lives; as in Babylon, the Herods and Rome. Not to mention Nazi Germany.

The artful (I think it says "Boogey 1", what do you think?) bit of graffiti is on the Morrison Street bridge over I-405 a block from where we do our downtwon ministry through Operation Nightwatch. Lots of people I know are afraid of downtown Portland. Really! They think it's a wilderness that they are afraid to visit because they think it's less civilized than the 'burbs. Oh, my! Portland is a dinky city, just a town, really. You can walk from end to end of downtwon Portland in a few minutes.

Take a place like Philadelphia. The ghetto section of that old city is, by itself, probably four times the size of downtown Portland. Now there's a wilderness!

We live in the 'burbs. NE 162nd Avenue, the arterial street we use to get to and from our house, is one of the highest crime areas of the city. Several weeks ago, a 12 year-old-girl left a late night party on 162nd with a bunch of other rowdy teens headed to the MAX train. On the train, a police officer spotted her and recognized that she was banned from the system because she had previously mugged a rider and stolen her purse. At the next stop, the officer attempted to escort the girl off the train. She punched him in the face. It took two officers and a bean bag shotgun to subdue her. 12 years old. Her life and home are a wilderness.

In the past month, there have been six incidents of domestic murder/suicide in the metro area. Not one has been in the wilderness of downtown Portland. All have been out in the 'burbs in really nice areas newer than where we live.

Wilderness is a state of mind, a state of turmoil, a state of estrangement, not a place.

In the wilderness, in the desert, prepare the way..."

Where else would you prepare it? We are all born into the slavery of some kind of Egypt. There is no such thing as being born in the Promised Land, and there is no route to the Promised Land that does not go through the wilderness. None. That's where we learn to trust and depend on God. That's where we learn to take the next steps and go on.

What's your wilderness? Can you name it? What needs to be smoothed? What valley needs filling? What obstacles need to be brought down? What barriers stand in your way?

"All flesh shall see the salvation of God. " That's how Luke 3:6 ends its Isaiah quote. Salvation in the biblical sense is far more than forgiveness of sins. It is God's entire process of making way, of enabling, empowering, removing barriers and obstacles from. The Hebrew root means "to make broad". That's the opposite of narrow and constricted.

John wasn't just a wacko in the wilderness hawking his Left Behind books and the latest Christian fiction DVD's or video games. He was calling us to own up to the wilderness in our hearts so that God could start applying his salvation to the wilderness of our lives, the whole shebang. John knew that "salvation" was not some distant hope or prospect or fantasy. It was already walking the earth on human feet.

John had this cousin, you see. He was more than your ordinary relative that you go hunting or four-wheelin' with. We're in the wilderness. Let the preparation begin.

Sahlom,

Roger