Lutheran Seminary's God Pause "Moved by the Promise" Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States for Friday, 2 January 2015 - Scripture: John 1:10-18

Lutheran Seminary's God Pause "Moved by the Promise" Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States for Friday, 2 January 2015 - Scripture: John 1:9-13 The Life-Light was the real thing:
    Every person entering Life
    he brings into Light.
He was in the world,
    the world was there through him,
    and yet the world didn’t even notice.
He came to his own people,
    but they didn’t want him.
But whoever did want him,
    who believed he was who he claimed
    and would do what he said,
He made to be their true selves,
    their child-of-God selves.
These are the God-begotten,
    not blood-begotten,
    not flesh-begotten,
    not sex-begotten.
14 The Word became flesh and blood,
    and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
    the one-of-a-kind glory,
    like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
    true from start to finish.
15 John pointed him out and called, “This is the One! The One I told you was coming after me but in fact was ahead of me. He has always been ahead of me, has always had the first word.”
16-18 We all live off his generous bounty,
        gift after gift after gift.
    We got the basics from Moses,
        and then this exuberant giving and receiving,
    This endless knowing and understanding—
        all this came through Jesus, the Messiah.
    No one has ever seen God,
        not so much as a glimpse.
    This one-of-a-kind God-Expression,
        who exists at the very heart of the Father,
        has made him plain as day.[The Message]
Our faith journeys are sometimes journeys of little steps and long slides. Sometimes this journey is like being carried along by a full river. Sometimes it is like walking in a dark room, waiting to knock our shins against the coffee table. The details of the journey are different for all of us. But on the way we are constantly discovering something new about God and who God is for us and for the world. Often times we walk looking down so as not to stub a toe or trip over a root; we swim with our eyes turned to the shore and safety; or we journey with our hands out in front fumbling to find a safe path. 
In all of these acts we are often only looking out for our own safety and failing to trust God. Only when we look up can we see what God wants us to see. Only when we swim with the flow of love can we arrive rested and ready to do that which God has called us to do. Only by walking boldly in the dark will we recognize the light.
In this New Year, Lord, help me to be more aware of my surroundings, to be more sensitive to where you are calling and, more importantly, help me find my voice to speak out against injustice. Amen.
Tor Kristian Berg
Pastor, First Lutheran Church
Bothell, Wash. 
Master of Divinity , 1994
John 1:10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him.
11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.
12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God,
13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.
15 (John testified to him and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, "He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.' ")
16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
17 The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
18 No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.[The Revised Standard Version]
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