Thread by @dianabutlerbass

On the Sunday after Christmas, it is a tradition in many churches to read John 1:1-18.

It is a beautiful passage that opens the Gospel of John.

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.

What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

For many years, I couldn't read the Gospel of John. Some evangelicals appropriated it as an evangelistic tract. When I was a high school student, I kept small booklets of the gospel in my car -- and I'd pass them out to any stranger who would take one.

(The above tweet is for my #Exvangelical friends. Many will identify with that.)

So, essentially, American evangelicalism colonized my understanding of John. And I couldn't read it w/o that lens.

About 15 years ago, however, I mentioned this to a friend who is a poet. She suggested that I read John as mystical poetry.

That was EXACTLY what I needed to hear.

And my re-reading John began.

Now I love it. John may well be my favorite book in the New Testament.

These introductory verses are key to a different understanding.

"In the beginning...."

John is, at heart, a poetic telling of the creation narrative. Read John in tandem with the first few chapters of Genesis.

"In the beginning...."

In effect, John is telling a very old Jewish story anew, this time through the experience of Christ.

In Genesis, God creates by breathing -- the ruach -- the spirit. God breathes. The cosmos comes to be.

In John, the ruach is the Word, the Logos, truth & wisdom.

Thru the Word all things came to be. Genesis tells the creation story. John tells of a new creation.

The story of Jesus isn't about "salvation" like handing out a tract to evangelize someone. John's story is of the renewal of cosmos thru Christ.

That truth, wisdom & light has been embodied in Jesus, "the Word became flesh and pitched a tent among us."

This is mystical poetry, but mystical poetry that points us to the reality of the world, that the new creation is here, right now. And we can live, dwell, with the Word.

The Word isn't the Bible, or some static thing. The Word is the very embodiment of God. John's book is an invitation to see the cosmos differently. Thru the Light -- the same blazing light of the Christmas Eve sky.

To live in harmony with God, neighbor, and nature.

As was intended back in the Garden. Before we chose violence and death. The Light dispels the night of hatred, murder, and death.

The re-creation.

Light within all light
Soul behind all souls
at the breaking of dawn
at the coming of day
we wait and watch.
Your Light within the morning light
Your Soul within the human soul
Your Presence beckoning to us from the heart of life.

-- @J_Philip_Newell

Hear the words of the Word anew. Hear the cosmic story. Hear the heartbeat of all things. Hear the invitation to joy and justice.

And that's a different way to read John. The way of many ancient Christians, of mystics and justice-doers through the centuries.

A Blessed First Sunday of Christmas to you all! #SundayMorning