I love these readings (Genesis 1, John 1, 1 John 1) for an instructed eucharist service because the through line is obvious.
In the beginning, before there was anything else, there was God.
The God that was there in the beginning was also the Word. And the Word became a person and lived among us. So Jesus was there in the beginning too.
And we testify to God, the Word, to Jesus who were all there from the beginning and we would invite you to join us in seeking and understanding the truth that he brought.
But let's write a sermon together:
from any or all of these readings, what ideas stands out to you?
Before there was anything, there was God.
Where there is nothing else, there is God
Wherever God is, Jesus is
The way we know God is by knowing Jesus
The world was made out of nothing -- everything that exists is from the mind of God
Light and dark are a metaphor for fellowship/lack of fellowship
There is grace and truth that has always been there
for one of these ideas, what does/could it mean for our lives?
where there is nothing else, there is Jesus
the thing that is truer than anything is we are supposed to love each other
whenever it feels like there is nothing else in the whole world, Jesus is there with you and creation can start over
when you were just a twinkle in Jesus's eye, you were already Good and so was everybody else
for one of these meanings, how does it ask us to live?
the thing that is truer than anything is that we are to love each other
truer than politics, truer than prejudice, truer than economics the only truest ethic in the world is that we are to care for one another. whenever the ways of the world feel unconquerable, just remember that they are finite.
whenever it feels like there is nothing else in the whole world, Jesus is there and creation can start over
whenever it feels like we are at the end of our rope, it very rarely is true that we are at the end of our rope. creation begins again, over and over. we can hold this to be true, and we can hold it for others when they struggle to understand it too
Genesis 1
1 In the beginning when God created[a] the heavens and the earth, 2 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God[b] swept over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
1 John 1
1 We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us— 3 we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that our[a] joy may be complete. 5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; 7 but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
1 John
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. …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. … 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.
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