In the beginning...Word

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. John 1:1-3

I’ve been running this passage around in my mind since Ash Wednesday when I joined friends in reading my way through the Gospel according to John. I hear John singing the glories of the creative power of Word, the Word that spoke all things into being, the Word made flesh, the Word that has come to live among us, the Word present at the creation, present in Christ Jesus, present in the church, and present, according to the promise, in me.

And I wonder. What are my words? What words have shaped me and formed me, spoken me into being?

We are proud of you. Good words, words my parents spoke into the awful adolescent years. I love you. Will you marry me? Words that changed my life and gave me a partner to share it. Mommy. Only surpassed in the pantheon of fabulous words by Gamma. Sweet words treasured in the night when sleep is hard to come by.

You’ve passed. From the Driver’s License exam to the ordination exam, words that bring a sigh of relief as much as a sense of a job well done. Will you be a faithful teaching elder….Tears ran down my face, and my father’s face, too. Pretty sure it had to do with the whole “proud of you” word. Will you be our pastor? Now there is a precious word I sometimes wondered if I would ever hear. 

There were hard words, too. You’re not invited. Wow, even now, that word cuts to the bone. She’s fought the good fight. There’s nothing more that we can do. I’m sorry, so very, very sorry. The destroyer of worlds, a word spoken into silence at a million bedsides. We lost Peter—I lost my baby—I lost my job—I lost my wife. The phone rings—a word is spoken and nothing is ever the same. 

And, for me, the Word that redeems, comforts, creates, builds, saves my life again and again: This word: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus… And this: Nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. And most of all, this: Do not fear, for I am with you; I have called you by name and you are mine. The Word that was in the beginning with God; the Word that is God. The creative Word through whom and in whom and with whom and by whom all things are made. 

I’ve been thinking about the Word, the words, that make me who I am. What are some of yours?