Two men

After John 1:1-14 

Two men are sent.

The first is a witness.

The second is the light.

The first announces 

the light is coming.

The second is

the light arrived.

The first is of flesh.

The second is

made flesh.

The first baptizes.

The second is

the baptism.

The first is the herald.

The second is the news.

The first testifies.

The second is

the testimony.

 

Photograph by Rafael Garcin via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

The Kingdom Didn’t Come for Daughters Like Me – Heidi Tai at Letters from Heidi.

 

Essential Church – Stephen Kneale at Building Jerusalem.

 

Pay Attention to What You’re Singing – Todd Alexander at Ligoiner.

 

Storytelling: The Parenting Tool You Didn’t Know You Needed – Betsy Childs Howard at The Gospel Coalition. 

All the things

After John 1:1-14 

All the things

the word is:

The word is spoken.

The word is thought.

The word is felt.

The word is experienced.

The word is heard.

The word is read.

The word is shouted.

The word is understood.

The word is convicting.

The word is illuminating.

The word is judging.

The word is saving.

The word is enlightening.

The word is redeeming.

The word is creative.

The word is stabilizing.

The word was in the beginning.

The word is born.

The word always was.

The word always is.

 

Photograph by Bruno van der Kraan via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

Reason and Faith – poem by Adam Mickiewicz at Kingdom Poets (D.S. Martin).

 

Who’s Afraid of Romans 1? – Andy Hood at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

What Matters Most: The Little Things – poem by Joy Lenton at Poetry Joy.

Witness to the light

After John 1:1-14 

He was sent to witness,

he was sent to speak,

he was sent to testify

of the light that was coming.

 

the light coming into the world

 

the light, the word, to logos

was here,

here in the world,

 

shining, yet strange,

an alien who looked like us

but unrecognized, suspected,

rejected by the very people

who had hoped and prayed

for him for centuries. 

 

He came as a man,

to live among us

for a time, to teach

and heal, until the day

 

the stone rolled away and

he was not here.

 

Photograph by Jose Ortega Castro via Unsplash. Used with permission.