John 1:29-42<\/span><\/a><\/p>\nWho Do We Say God Is?<\/b><\/h4>\n
The church really likes her symbols, and she comes by it honest. Today we read how John attempts to explain who Jesus is to those who have yet to encounter him or his ministry, which has not yet come to be: \u201cLamb of God,\u201d \u201cSpirit like a dove,\u201d “Rabbi,” and \u201cMessiah.\u201d Names and symbols can do the heavy lifting of topics or ideas that feel too big to explain. The way we talk about things matters and carries implications. All kinds of symbols surround us every day. We put symbols in the forms of stickers on our cars and cases. We put signs and flags in our yards as symbols of what we stand for, or who we represent. Symbols have the power to bring people together in solidarity, or to cause harm by declaring hate. In the church we use symbols to tell the story of who God is, and who we are in relationship to our Creator.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nAnother kind of symbol we encounter in the text is that of a name. We see it in the way John declares who Christ is, and we see it when Jesus renames Simon to Peter. Throughout scripture we read of God naming themself \u201cI AM\u201d. Others give a name to God by declaring who God is and how God has appeared to them. Then, in the Psalm for today, we read a poem of thanksgiving filled with imagery of an attempt to explain who God is.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThese kinds of symbols and images continue to be important to the faithful today. How we talk about who God is matters. In a time that can feel like all scrolling is doom scrolling, what we put into words and art can be a prayer for the world. Anne Lamott is an author and activist who says that prayer can be put into one of three categories: Help, Thanks, and Wow. I wonder what it might look like to create a piece of art, a symbol, that tells one of these stories: a story of help or lament, a story of thanksgiving, and a story of praise. We will spend the rest of our time together talking and creating. Just as John pointed and said, \u201cLook,\u201d may our words and images point those around us again toward the Messiah in our midst.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
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