Wednesday Word: St. John

Shed upon your Church, O Lord, the brightness of your light, that we, being illumined by the teaching of your apostle and evangelist John, may so walk in the light of your truth, that at length we may attain to the fullness of eternal life. – Collect for St. John, Apostle and Evangelist

Today is the feast day of St. John the Evangelist, our patron saint. This is a hard feast day to celebrate coming as it does on the heels of Christmas Day and the tradition of many clergy, myself included, of taking a few days off immediately after the rush of services.

For today's Wednesday Word, I thought I would give you a little information about our patron.

Tradition says that John the Evangelist was the brother of James, son of Zebedee, and a fisherman. He was a close friend of Jesus, often portrayed as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” He and his brother were ambitious, asking Jesus to sit at his right and left hand when he came into his power and glory. He was the only male disciple at the cross during the crucifixion. He was the author of the gospel that bears his name and the Revelation. Or maybe it was that he was the author of the gospel and the three letters, but not Revelation, Or maybe it was that he was the author of everything that bears his name, Church traditions are a little fuzzy. And, according to tradition, he was also the only disciple/apostle who died a natural death, ie he wasn't martyred.

As we move forward into 2018, may we, as disciples of Christ and parishioners of St. John's, work to manifest the words of today's Collect in the world around us.

May the light of Christ shine brightly through us.

May we walk in that light and truth.

May we illumine the life of those with whom we come into contact.

May we, by our word and example, reflect a life of love which was so central to John's theology.

Blessings to you on this Third Day of Christmas,

Todd+