Daily Devotion – December 31, 2020 – The Rev. Mindy Ehrke

John 1:(1-9), 10-18 (NRSV)

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.

5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. 6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. 14And 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.'”) 16From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

Devotion

God’s word creates. Tonight, at midnight, we close out one year, and begin a new year, full of promise and hope and life. I have lots of favorite passages in the Bible. Today’s words from the Gospel of John are definitely among my all-time top ten. Possibly that is because they mirror the words of Genesis 1: “In the beginning…” In Genesis, God speaks, and creation happens.

John says: “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 came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.” John takes the tapestry of Genesis and embroiders over it the good news of Jesus. John has gone back to the future. The future is in Christ. In this new year, may God speak to us and create in us life, light, and love.

Prayer

Dear God, let your light shine in the darkness, and help us to see your word at work in all our new beginnings. Amen