Prayer Prompt March 16

SCRIPTURE

John 1:6-18

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. 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. (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.”’) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 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.

Reflection

The scripture in this reading says, regarding John the Baptist, “He was sent from God, and came as a witness to testify to the light, so that through him all might become believers. He was not himself the light; he came to bear witness to the light. The true light which gives light to everyone was even then coming into the world” (6-9). This simple, plain explanation of a complex vision of living life as a follower of Christ helps us understand the instruction given by Jesus to his disciples in Matthew 5:14. “You are light for all the world. A town that stands on a hill cannot be hidden.” We are not to be puffed up with our own sense of importance, our own “lightedness.” We are not the light on the hill shining for all pilgrims to see on their perilous journey through the shoals of the near harbor. We are merely the reflectors which circle around the one light in the center. All the light we have for others, for ourselves, is dependent on the one bright shining orb which never is extinguished. Even if our mirrors break and shatter, the one light keeps glowing. And in this Lenten season, we can discipline ourselves to remember that bright center that gives us and the world light.

PRAYER

Shine on bright Orb, dear Lover of souls. Show forth in your many mirrors so that all may find their way. Amen.

-Joonna Smitherman Trapp