During the Christmas Festival we heard read the majestic and poetic Prologue of the Gospel according to St John. We heard his statement concerning the Incarnation of the only begotten of the Father. “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth.”
Today, appropriately, two days from the Feast of the Nativity, is the Feast Day of the beloved disciple (see the Gospel for today John 21:19ff.), John apostle and evangelist, who was given by his Lord long years to propagate and meditate upon the Gospel of the Father concerning His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Collect for this day, based upon a very ancient one from the 6th century or earlier, has within it the theme of Light, for both in the Gospel of John and in the Letters of John in the New Testament, Light is a major theme. Jesus is himself the Light of the world according to the Gospel, and also, as the Epistle declares, “God [the Father] is Light” [1 John 1:1ff.]
“Merciful Lord [the Father], we beseech thee to cast thy bright beams of light upon the Church, that it being illuminated by the doctrine of thy blessed Apostle and Evangelist Saint John, may so walk in the light of thy truth, that it may at length attain to life everlasting; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
The Church of God is called to walk in the light of God’s revealed truth that it/she may attain unto the light of everlasting life.
Modern forms of the Collect (as in the English “Common Worship” of 2001) have changed the second “it” to “we” [“we may so walk…”] in an effort to make it more relevant to people today so that they think of it as applying to them. Whether this is necessary is debatable for it loses the full sense that the Body of Christ is not only one people but also one unit that can be spoken of in the singular as the Bride of Christ, the Household of God, and so on.
But the main point is that the Church of God, all its members both clergy and laity, allow the Light of God the Holy Trinity to illuminate and enlighten their minds and hearts as they read the inspired Gospel and Epistles of John, the beloved disciple.
7 a.m. Dec 27th Peter@toon662.fsnet.co.uk
The Revd. Dr. Peter Toon
Christ Church Rectory
Hot Lane, Biddulph Moor
Stoke-on-Trent ST8 7HP
England
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