Longing for New Creation
It is the Monday before Easter. I don't know about you, but I find my heart incredibly heavy right now. I am longing for goodness and beauty. I am longing for new creation.
Last week, Jon Guerra released a new album called Jesus. I was only recently introduced to Guerra's music, but this new album is the perfect collection of songs to reflect on during Holy Week. The first song on the album is called "In the Beginning Was Love," and it comes from John 1.
After listening to this song last week, I have been sitting in the first half of John 1 for a few days. It has long been one of my favorite chunks of Scripture. I find that when I'm very familiar with a particular passage of Scripture, a different translation can reawaken my curiosity, so I've been reading the New Living Translation.
John 1:1-18 (NLT)
"In the beginning the Word already existed.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He existed in the beginning with God.
God created everything through him,
and nothing was created except through him.
The Word gave life to everything that was created,
and his life brought light to everyone.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it.
God sent a man, John the Baptist, to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light. The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
He came into the very world he created, but the world didn't recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father's one and only Son.
John testified about him when he shouted to the crowds, "This is the one I was talking about when I said, 'Someone is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.'"
From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses, but God's unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father's heart. He has revealed God to us."
These verses remind me that there is so much goodness and beauty in the midst of the hard and the heavy and that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. When my heart feels heavy, these words fill it with hope.
This week, I'll be reading through John 11-21 as a way to reflect on the movements of Jesus leading to the cross and the resurrection. John does a beautiful job of showing us in time and space where Jesus was, who he was with, and how he was feeling. It is a stunning picture of Jesus as fully God and fully human.
Maybe reading these chapters would also be meaningful for you, or perhaps you'd enjoy the Jesus album I mentioned before. Maybe you need to get outside and go for a hike, or sit in a park and make space to experience what is happening in your own body as you sit in these final days leading to Easter.
Whatever this week holds for you, I hope you will find moments to slow down and reflect on the significance of these days. I hope you will make space to wrestle with the longing for new creation and to breathe deeply as you remember that Jesus has always been telling a love story, one that we've all been invited into, one that changes everything, forever.
~ Melissa