“Did you ever try to describe what God is like? Or to describe what the life of Jesus meant? How do you do that? Do you state some facts? Do you state history? Do you make an argument? Or do what John did, and simply sing? That is how the Gospel of John opens, with an ancient hymn. I once heard the great Presbyterian preacher Robert Cleveland Holland, at whose church I was a singer, compare this sort of scripture to Robert Frost’s poem that describes the fog coming in on little cat feet. That description says nothing about fog coming from dew points and relative humidity, but everything about what the experience of fog is like. The poetry of this gospel’s hymn is emotional more than definitional, but it conveys that humanity and eternity have encountered something immense. That feeling is like stopping to look at a star. it is a “Will you look at that!” moment in scripture.”

Lectionary Readings:
Isaiah 61:10-62:3
Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7
Psalm 147
John 1:1-18