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Close your eyes, breathe, and clear your mind. Be still. Center your scattered senses on God’s presence.

SCRIPTURE: 1 John 1:1-4

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.  This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

CHRISTMASTIDE REFLECTION

John and his brother James were among the first disciples called by Jesus. It is traditionally believed that John was the youngest of the apostles and survived the rest.  He played a leading role in the early church. John’s passages on the pre-existence of the Word and the incarnation of Christ as the light of the world are among the most well known in the New Testament.  Light is an important part of the celebration of Christ during Christmastide. Wine is traditionally blessed on this day in remembrance of the legend that John safely drank poisoned wine offered to him by his enemy after he had blessed it. It is also an act of reconciliation to share a cup of wine with an “enemy” on this day.  In 1983, Pope John Paul II visited Mehment Ali Agca (the man who had shot him two years earlier) in prison and shared a cup of wine with him. As we commemorate John the Evangelist, how can we share God’s light and grace with family, friends, and casual acquaintances today? And who might we need to share wine with in an act of reconciliation?

COLLECT:  Written by Collects are short general prayers used in Christian liturgy to draw our focus of worship.  The collect today is from the Episcopal Eucharistic Lectionary.

Shed upon your Church, O Lord, the brightness of your light, that we, being illumined by the teaching of your apostle and evangelist John, may so walk in the light of your truth, that at length we may attain to the fullness of eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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MUSIC VIDEO:  Lauren Daigle:  Light of the World

IMAGE: Saint John the Evangelist from the Book of Kells (c800)