ST. JOHN THE THEOLOGIAN & RENEWALS
(Thursday, September 26)
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (Jn 1: 1-5)
Today, as those on the Older Calendar celebrate the “Renewals” (τὰ ἐγκαίνια, обновления) or Restoration of the Resurrection-church in Jerusalem (a feast that gets little press) and prepare for the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, and those on the “New” calendar celebrate the day of St. John the Theologian, I’m thinking about the basic, primary truth St. John reveals to us about our Lord Jesus Christ. Namely, St. John identifies Him as the Source of Life and Light, God. His light keeps shining, even in our darkest periods, offering us “renewals” of the life-creating Spirit within us, again and again.
That to which He is calling me is Life, – not just the biological kind, in which I can participate even if I happen to be one of “the walking dead,” disconnected from Him. He calls me to share in His Being, in communion with Him, on the light- and life-bringing Way of the Cross, that through trampling death “by death” (i.e. by walking through the Way that God leads me into and not avoiding it), I may “have life abundantly” (Jn 10: 10).
Let me join the creative flow of God’s energies today, without which “nothing was made that was made,” by re-connecting with Him in some heartfelt prayer and opening up to His light. It enables me to grow, as God knows that I can, and as I cannot, when I choose to remain alone in the dark. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew the right Spirit within me!” (Ps 50:10)
