New Year Hangover

For some reason I’m still focused on 1 John.   I guess it’s my hangover from last week’s blogs with 1 John being front and center.  

On New Year's Eve I found my copy of  “The Gospel and Epistles of John: A Concise Summary” (1988) by Father Raymond E. Brown.   As I get older (and older) and I look over some of my references, it dawns on me that many of the books in my library were written by men and women who are long since dead.

Their books and ideas now are most easily found in used book stores where they gather dust unless rescued by those who appreciate insights of these icons of Christian scholarship.  May they never be forgotten especially by men entering the priesthood who need to appreciate those brilliant minds and then tutor under them through their books and memories.

Father Brown’s treatment of the first epistle of John is stellar.  It’s a good read for the beginning of our new year.  According to Brown, it’s an interpretation of the 4th Gospel.  Perhaps we should begin with “God is Light” (1 John 1:5-10):  that reads:

Now this is the message that we have heard from him and proclaim to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.  If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” while we continue to walk in darkness, we lie and do not act in truth.  But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin.  If we say, “We are without sin,” we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing.  If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

May God’s word always be in us throughout this new year.  May we remember that even though we deal with the darkness of winter, we still walk with and in the light when we acknowledge our sins.   Most of all, let’s not be liars or make God one too.

Deacon David Pierce