Gleaning In The Fields Of Light
By Ken Woodley
In the beginning, the Gospel of John tells us, was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
And John tells the truth.
But there is more.
Forget the past tense.
The Word still is. The Word lives. The Word surrounds us. Taps us on the shoulder. Knocks on the front door of our hearts. If we don’t answer, it knocks on the back door.
If we still don’t answer, it knocks on a window. If it must, the Word will slide down our chimney and do something far more meaningful than fill our stockings with toys.
The Word wants to fill us with joys.
Joys to the world.
Joys for the world.
In the beginning, the Gospel of John tells us, the Word was with God.
And John tells the truth.
But there is more.
Forget the past tense.
The Word still is with God.
And God is trying desperately to whisper in our ears. To speak softly in our hearts. To fill our soul with resonant words of love. If we don’t listen, God finds other ways to speak:
With songs and books and paintings and poetry and the bloom of flowers and the absence of leaves on the trees because those bare limbs speak with assurance of spring.
In the beginning, the Gospel of John tells us, the light shone in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.
And John tells the truth.
But there is more.
Forget the past tense.
The light still shines.
Darkness still cannot overcome it.
But the darkness tries.
The darkness tried in the beginning and the darkness tries today.
The darkness tries to distract us when the Word taps us on the shoulder or knocks on our door.
The darkness tries shouting to drown out the soft whisper of God.
The darkness tries to banish the light.
But still the Word speaks to us.
Still the Word is with God and God is with us.
Still the light shines all around us.
And still the darkness cannot overcome it.
The light-filled Word of God speaking love to us will never be silenced or extinguished.
Just as it was in the beginning, it is now and it ever shall be.
Ken Woodley 