The Beginning
The Beginning
ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος. οὖτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν. πάντα δι᾽ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν. ὃ γέγονεν ἐν αὐτῶ ζωὴ ἦν, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων· καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ ἡ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν.
— John 1:1-5
If you’re reading this little missive on the morning it came out, welcome to Easter Sunday, a day universally recognized as a religious holiday — although nothing could be further from the truth.
“Religion” is humankind’s attempt to redefine the Creator of reality into a philosophical concept we can be comfortable with — i.e., a god created in our image. We even sort ourselves into like-minded religious herds that bolster our ego-centric distortions and provide a sense of superiority over competing herds who don’t adhere to our personal doctrines.
Easter, on the other hand, is more like the opening night of a grand drama, based on the writings of the very Author of the universe. But it’s as if the Author, himself showed up to opening night and halfway into the third act, interrupted the play by walking onto stage and saying, “That’s not what I intended at all.”
Needless to say, audiences can get testy when their entertainment is disrupted, and the Author’s admonition was mostly ignored. However, before His violent exit could be effected, He offered a new beginning — available to any audience member willing to buck the trend of the herd and follow His lead, embracing His forgiveness, acceptance, and fellowship.
Easter is singularly about the reality of that new beginning. Happy Easter to you my friends.
Let’s talk. I’d really like to hear what you have to say, and it might even give me something to write about. Email me at guy@lawsoncomm.com.
I’ll buy you coffee and we can compare notes. I promise not to steal your ideas without permission.
The scientist is possessed by the sense of universal causation. His religious feeling takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals an INTELLIGENCE of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection.
― Albert Einstein, “The World as I See It”
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The Gospel of John
If you’re like me, you’re wary about recommendations to read the Bible. Even though it’s the most widely published book in history, it’s also the most misused. Don’t read the Bible because you think I want you to. Don’t read it because you think it will make you a better person. Read it because you want to know what the first-hand witnesses to the single greatest milestone in human history said about their own experience. There’s no better resource to understand Act One of the New Beginning than the words of an old fisherman named John who had a front row seat. Besides, after reading only the first chapter of John’s gospel in English, you’ll know what my opening paragraph was all about.
A meeting of great minds who think alike
