Happy New Year

Is the stage too big?

Paul says that the chronological march of clocks and calendars started by the Big Bang is going somewhere rather than nowhere; he says that time itself is progressing toward a "fulfillment." He tells the Ephesians that the "mystery of God's will," hidden in eternity past, is revealed in the first century Jesus. All creation will receive its redemption when God "brings all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ."

           Paul's remarkably comprehensive vision embraces all space and time. The future redemption of the original creation is so central to his thought that he repeats these ideas in nearly identical language in four additional epistles besides Ephesians. It's like Paul had a computer and did a cut-and-paste of his thoughts to five different churches.

           The ultimate destiny of all creation is liberation and freedom, adoption and redemption. The scale and scope of this future hope encompasses "the whole creation" (Romans 8:12–25; cf. 1 John 2:2). God "created all things in heaven and on earth" (Colossians 1:16). He seeks the worship of all "things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth" (Philippians 2:9–11). He will "reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven" (Colossians 1:20). Since He will sum up or bring together "all things in heaven and on earth" (Ephesians 1:10), then of course God delights in bestowing his fatherly favor on "the whole human family in heaven and on earth" (Ephesians 3:15). Paul's incremental logic is palpable —redemption is the destiny of each person, every nation, all creation, and the whole cosmos — not only on earth but "under the earth and in heaven."

http://www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20101227JJ.shtml

Alan Culpepper (Anatomy of the Fourth Gospel).

The way I think it works is this.  Light comes into the world and it's as if everyone and everything is seen in a new and penetrating way.  Suddenly we are connected with each other and the source of divine love precisely
because this light comes as an invitation to grow in connectedness.  Just as suddenly, however, we are also alienated because of everything about us that insists on remaining entrenched in isolation.  This is the contrast
John is talking about.  It is the contrast we, no doubt witness, every passing day.

http://www.rockies.net/~spirit/sermons/a-ch02-keeping.php

another epiphany

confessional prayer

The Light comes into the world:

Our eyes, long used to darkness,
Close tight against the bright light.
We turn away and will not see.

The Light comes to reveal the truth.

But we are lost in logic,
and miss the reflections of God's appearance.
We turn away, and will not see.

Forgive us, Light of Life,
when we turn away,
and will not see you in the world around us.

Words of assurance

We are forgiven,
for the Light has come,
and the Glory of God surrounds us.

Thanks be to God Amen

Epiphany

I'm not sure where this came from but i love it

poetry

In a flash, at a trumpet crash,I am all at once what Christ is,
 since he was what I am.
-Gerard Manley Hopkins 1844-1889

Mosaic

http://www.edgeofenclosure.org/christmaswordmadefl.html

Song: O Light who is shining

I posted the words for this song this time last year, inspired as they were by John 1:1-18.
I am attempting to post the music. It's fairly singable, so give it a go.

Here are the words again:

O Light who is Shining

O Light who is shining in all the dark places;

shine on me,

and shed your hope upon shadowed faces;

let them see

the love and the courage of one who’s defying

the powers that threaten, the gloom that’s denying

the truth, grace and justice; together defining

the kingdom that’s coming to be.

O Light who is true and cuts through the night-time;

shine in me.

Let love glow warm when we’re worried and frightened

make us free;

for action to end all the fear and the hating,

to touch anxious hearts when love is abating,

to bring on the peace for which all are waiting;

where faith, hope and love abide: three.

O Light who is life for all of creation,

shine through me.

We are the offspring of Love’s celebration;

sent to be -

the flickering flames of hope where there’s need,

embracing God’s children, regardless of creed.

To gather a harvest, where love is the seed;

we make this our goal and our plea.

© 2010 words: Ken Rookes

music: Judy & Jessica Chalmers

A cute nativity

Interpreting the story

Gospel writers Matthew and Luke

are the approved suppliers

of the raw materials

from which we cobble our Christmas stories

together; faith being the thread that seeks,

gathers and ties the meaning.

The angels speak of the wonder

of the aching God who decides to take action

and to embrace uncertainty.

The girl-woman, Mary,

is a sign of human obedience

and willingness to let God’s perplexing purposes

take their unpredictable course.

Her carpenter husband, Joseph,

in determining to proceed with their marriage,

shows the persistence of human compassion

in the face of bewildering embarrassment.

And the baby, strange and vulnerable,

tells us of the mystery of divine love

found, unexpectedly and riskily,

among us.

So, what of the fat man in the red suit,

intruding uninvited into our neat nativity?

Perhaps he is God, laughing.

© 2009 Ken Rookes