Monday, May 21, 2007

Today’s text

1 John 5:6-9

“This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, for the Spirit is the truth. There are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to the Son.”

Prayer

I can’t say that I quite understand this, My Lord Christ, dearest friend. Does water refer to your baptism in human flesh? Does blood point to your death, faithful to God at the hands of those who hated and feared you? And the Spirit? Shall I think of this elusive constant one as that vitality of life and joy, who evermore recreates the face of the Earth--and me--in the divine image you reveal and are?

These three agree, giving God’s own witness that you are Lord, the revelation of God, the human, incarnate face of Eternal Wonder. You are the smile of God on the madness of the world. You are the knowing face of eternity turned in love to me amid all the unruliness of my life.

The water, the blood and the Spirit of joy that attends me each time I think of you: these invite me to know you, not merely as human friend but as abiding, divine presence, attending my every breath. Breathing in, I know you. I know you as the love of the Holy One who wants to known by every heart, by all that lives and by each spoonful of matter. Constant divine desire.

And I? I come to the close of another chapter, another semester, changed, deeper I hope. But you remain unchanged, constantly making witness to the love you are through our brother Jesus, the Christ.

Give us eyes and ears to receive your witness as we go our ways. Amen.

Pr. David L. Miller