“In the beginning was the Meaning, and the Meaning was with God, and the Meaning was God.”
This interpretation of John 1:1 (by John Macquarrier, quoted by James Carroll in Christ Actually: The Son of God the Secular Age), which I read for the first time yesterday, is God response to one of my on-going questions: “How do we create meaning?”
When I was raising my children, teaching, going to divinity school, and then working for hospice, the question appeared as an occasional, quiet wondering. I didn’t have time to ponder it, and besides, I knew I was doing meaningful work. But in the years since my retirement, I’ve found myself redefining my response to the question, asking what constitutes meaning in terms of life, not work.
Only after we acknowledge that God is love, can we begin to consider meaning as synonymous with God. Life is meaningful when we live in God’s presence, when we express God’s love. Maybe it’s this simple: love and you will have meaning in your life. Or to put it another way, love is your life work.
This interpretation of John 1:1 (by John Macquarrier, quoted by James Carroll in Christ Actually: The Son of God the Secular Age), which I read for the first time yesterday, is God response to one of my on-going questions: “How do we create meaning?”
When I was raising my children, teaching, going to divinity school, and then working for hospice, the question appeared as an occasional, quiet wondering. I didn’t have time to ponder it, and besides, I knew I was doing meaningful work. But in the years since my retirement, I’ve found myself redefining my response to the question, asking what constitutes meaning in terms of life, not work.
Only after we acknowledge that God is love, can we begin to consider meaning as synonymous with God. Life is meaningful when we live in God’s presence, when we express God’s love. Maybe it’s this simple: love and you will have meaning in your life. Or to put it another way, love is your life work.
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