And It Moved Into the Neighborhood
John 1:1-14 (NLT)
1 In the beginning the Word already existed.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
2 He existed in the beginning with God.
3 God created everything through him,
and nothing was created except through him.
4 The Word gave life to everything that was created,
and his life brought light to everyone.
5 The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it.
6 God sent a man, John the Baptist, 7 to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. 8 John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light. 9 The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
10 He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. 11 He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. 12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
2 He existed in the beginning with God.
3 God created everything through him,
and nothing was created except through him.
4 The Word gave life to everything that was created,
and his life brought light to everyone.
5 The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it.
6 God sent a man, John the Baptist, 7 to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. 8 John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light. 9 The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
10 He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. 11 He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. 12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
In a world that has been ravaged by everything from a global pandemic to nationwide infant formula shortages, it is easy to feel like we are living in a space in which God is not moving. In fact, we often feel as if the movement of the Holy Spirit is out of reach: that the movement of the Holy Spirit can only be truly felt and experienced by those who have the right gifts or can say the right words or are living the right life.
The Word as it is made known to us in the 1st chapter of John has been moving within a world similar to the one we know best. The world of Jesus’s ancestors was no stranger to the pains of disease, resource shortages, and war. And just as our world has its many faults, God knew that this world too would not accept their Son with open and loving arms. But yet, this did not shake the movement that our loving Parent had planned in perfect detail from start to finish.
Knowing the road that would lie ahead, the Son and the Word rolled up their sleeves and got to work. As Jesus moved into neighborhood after neighborhood, the Word followed closely behind and remained even after Jesus traveled to the next place. And just as our Parent God would have it, no place was left unchanged.
In our daily lives, it is all too easy to pinpoint the places and spaces and people that we feel need the most fixing. We make it our mission to bring the movement and working of the Holy Spirit into them. The reality is that we must 1st stop. We must stop and see the glory of what the Word is already doing with our own eyes. The glory that is like Father, like Son, generous inside and out, true from start to finish.
Prayer: Holy Parent, we thank you for the Word that is present in everything we do, in both spaces we frequent and the places we will not go. May we move within the world with the desire and courage to be a servant of the Word even in places that we do not see you at work yet. Amen.
The Word as it is made known to us in the 1st chapter of John has been moving within a world similar to the one we know best. The world of Jesus’s ancestors was no stranger to the pains of disease, resource shortages, and war. And just as our world has its many faults, God knew that this world too would not accept their Son with open and loving arms. But yet, this did not shake the movement that our loving Parent had planned in perfect detail from start to finish.
Knowing the road that would lie ahead, the Son and the Word rolled up their sleeves and got to work. As Jesus moved into neighborhood after neighborhood, the Word followed closely behind and remained even after Jesus traveled to the next place. And just as our Parent God would have it, no place was left unchanged.
In our daily lives, it is all too easy to pinpoint the places and spaces and people that we feel need the most fixing. We make it our mission to bring the movement and working of the Holy Spirit into them. The reality is that we must 1st stop. We must stop and see the glory of what the Word is already doing with our own eyes. The glory that is like Father, like Son, generous inside and out, true from start to finish.
Prayer: Holy Parent, we thank you for the Word that is present in everything we do, in both spaces we frequent and the places we will not go. May we move within the world with the desire and courage to be a servant of the Word even in places that we do not see you at work yet. Amen.
Hannah Lamb, St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, Nitro, WV, hnl003@marietta.edu, Member of Conference Nominations and Episcopacy Committees
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