Holy
Nights
John
1: 1-18 (translation by Craig Wiggins)
In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a God.
This
was in the beginning with God.
Everything
came into being through the Word, and without it was not anything made that was
made.
In
the Word was life, and the life was the light of humankind.
And
the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
There
was a man sent from God whose name was John.
He
came as a witness, to bear witness to the light, so that through him all may find
faith. He was not the light, but a witness to the light, for the true light
that enlightens every human being was coming into the world. It was in the
world, and the world came into being through it, but the world had not
recognized it.
Into
those who had recognized it the light had come, but those individuals did not
take it in. But all who did take it in received authority to become children of
God. Those who trusted in its name are born, not of blood, nor of the will of
the flesh, nor of the will of the human beings, but are born of God.
And
the Word became flesh and dwelt among (in) us.
And
we beheld its revelation, the revelation of the only begotten son of the
Father, full of grace and truth.
John
bore witness to Him and cried out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘After
me comes one who was before me, for he is the very first’.” For out of his fullness, we have received grace upon grace.
For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth have come about
through Jesus Christ.
Until
now human senses never beheld God. The only begotten Son, who was within the
Father, has become the guide to this beholding.
January 1, 2020
John 1: 1-18
In the beginning, God created a living radiance. This
radiance took form in sun moon and stars. In the beginning, God created the
human being, giving us eyes with which to see the light.
In the beginning, God shepherded us with the Law, with
specific codes of conduct, designed to mold and shape our souls and spirits
rightly toward God and toward our fellow human beings.
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| He Qi |
And then He began again. He sent His beloved Son, whose very
essence and being is Love. Seeing God’s Son, the way He talked, the way He
healed, the way His actions were connected back to His Father, human beings can
also experience the light, the life, the love of the Father Himself. Through
the Son, we are given eyes of the soul, opened by love, with which to see God.
Seeing the Son is grace; taking His essence into our hearts
lets us experience the truth of our own being: that love in us is a living,
radiant creative force. In the words of Hafiz,
Now is the time to understand
That all your ideas of right and
wrong
Were just a child’s training wheels
To be laid aside
When you can finally live
with veracity and love.
Now is the time for the world to
know
That every thought and action is
sacred.
That this is the time
For you to compute the
impossibility
that there is anything
But Grace.
Now is the season to know
That everything you do
Is Sacred.*
