In the beginning

… was the Word, says John 1:1. Why? Why not say, In the beginning was the power? Or the love? Or the truth?

My meditations sometimes run in odd directions and this was one. I wasn’t studying John’s gospel or epistles, I was actually thinking about communications and relationships, the way we connect with each another.

I was in a theater when this train of thought began. A preview for an upcoming movie was on the screen, with one woman lamenting to another, Now I can be rejected in seven different technologies! You know, phone calls, voice mail, email, instant messaging, texting, facebook, myspace, etc.

Her point was that to have a relationship, communication is required. Two-way communication.

When John calls our attention to his writing, he points out that God communicates. He says things, and desires a reply.

Not all communication is verbal, of course. “A picture is worth a thousand words,” and God’s most important and essential communication with us, his Word to us, was Jesus.

Jesus: the image of God and God himself in a form compatible with earth. The communicator of God’s thoughts, power, love, truth, holiness, humor, creativity, imagination, determination, plans, all contained in that one Word.

Fascinating way for John to begin his own communication of the gospel, don’t you think?