Friday – 7th Day in Christmas Octave

Gospel – John1:1-18

Past, Present and Future

Latin / Greek, Church of Dormition

Today’s Gospel – the opening chapter of the Gospel of John – really takes me back in time, all the way to my freshman year in college in the Seminary.  It was a tough academic year; we were taking 3 different languages at once: French, Latin and Greek.  And because it used a completely different set of written characters, Greek was the most difficult to not only learn, but retain.  I can remember we all crafted homemade flash cards for the vocabulary and we carried them around with us everywhere.  We had to constantly refresh ourselves and test ourselves; otherwise we lost it so quickly

Which brings me to today’s Gospel.  I have a special fondness for these verses; they were one of the first translations we ever tackled.  Even today I can still rattle off the first couple of verses in Greek from memory.    Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος

And I have to say, Greek still is a blessing for me today especially when I wrestle with my crossword puzzles or a Jeopardy answer.  Side note – today’s pic reads (in Latin): Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and shall name Him Emmanuel.  The Greek letters on either side translate to: Mother of God – Theotokos!

This is not your ordinary Nativity story – no manger, no shepherds, no Magi.  Rather it is a clear statement of our faith – Jesus Christ is the Son of God.  He is, was and will be the Word of God.  He was there at the Creation, He became Flesh and dwelt among us.  He is full of grace and truth and is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven.

And it is rather odd to have a Gospel reading focusing on “in the beginning” when today is the last day of the year.  But if you think about it, the Gospel speaks about all of time – past, present and future.  He is, He was and He will be!  Rather appropriate today as we face the last day of 2021!  I expect most of us are glad to see it end.  We will probably spend some time today reflecting on the past, rooting ourselves in the present and hoping for a brighter tomorrow.  It would be easy and not unexpected to quickly close the book on 2021, to put the past behind us.  For many of us, that will be difficult to do – too much sadness and hurt, too much loss and pain.  But we cannot live in the past nor can we focus merely on the here and now. 

We are a people of Hope!  Hope for a new day/year, hope for eternal life.  We place our trust in the Word!  The Son of God has always been there with us, even from the beginning of time.  He is there with us today as we close out 2021.  And He will be with us tomorrow and the next day. He is the Light of the world.  And no amount of darkness can ever overcome Him!  Let His light shine on us in this New Year!

May any tears you shed in 2021 water the seeds you are planting for 2022!

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