Life-giving Light of the World

Life-giving Light of the World

 

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.

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 1:1-14

 

Wonderful and worthy-of-praise Word

We worship you

Through you, all things were made—all of this beautiful, bountiful, (but now broken-by us) world, our common home

Loving, life-giving Light of the world

We long for your restoration, and we lament

the destruction, despair, and darkness in our world, our common home

Wondrous and wise Word-become-flesh

We welcome you and we wait and work in hope

You came to live with us and to shine true and lasting light into our common home

Glorious, generous, and grace-and-truth-filled God the Son

We give you thanks

for making known the Father and giving us grace upon grace and the great privilege of living as the children of God in our common home.

Amen

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Prayer written in reflection on Advent verse  John 1:1-14.

A visual reflection of Isabel O'Keeffe's Advent prayer is below.

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Dr Isabel O'Keeffe is a non-Indigenous linguist and ethnomusicologist living on Gadigal land. She is passionate about listening deeply to and working collaboratively with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples on research projects in the areas of language, music, and health.

This devotional is the seventeenth in a series of daily email devotionals for Advent 2023. This year's series reflects on the longing, hope, and beauty of God’s ‘Common Home’ being realised, revealed, and renewed through the birth of Jesus.

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