One must not be overly hasty to judge the church Calendar. There was a time when I resented the immediate intrusion of St. Stephen, St. John, and the Innocents. Can’t we enjoy Christmas just a little bit longer? Well, no. The very next day, December 26, Stephen is stoned. We get a respite of sorts with St. John, and then, we remember the massacre of the children of Bethlehem, and the other innocent victims of all times and places; the list is long. The “designs of evil tyrants” (as the Collect for the Day expresses it) continue unabated.

I have come to understand that the Calendar is right.

“Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them. . . .”

The stoning of Stephen, the murder of children. . . . The Son of God did not come here just to be adored by cute little angels and shepherd boys, oxen and asses and sheep and wise men. He had his “father’s business” to be about. God saw such deeds as the massacre of children, and chose to do something about it, at his own great cost.

War continues in Afghanistan and Iraq. Iran wants to build nuclear weapons. North Korea remains crushed under totalitarian repression. Strife continues in the Holy Land, and many other places. It is for such as this, and such as us, that he “was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man.” O magnum mysterium.

But it is also proper that the feast of St. John is in with all of this dark, messy, painful human condition. The “beloved disciple” is the one who, more than any of the other authors of Scripture, taught us that God is love. It is for love that God sent his son into the world. That love is comprehensible only through the Incarnation, and all that followed – all that still follows, as we continue to live out the Story. The passage from Revelation continues:

“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” (21:4)

It is for Love that this is so.

“From that time that it was shewed I desired oftentimes to learn what was our Lord’s meaning. And fifteen years after, and more, I was answered in ghostly understanding, saying thus: Wouldst thou learn thy Lord’s meaning in this thing? Learn it well: Love was His meaning. Who shewed it thee? Love. What shewed He thee? Love. Wherefore shewed it He? For Love. Hold thee therein and thou shalt learn and know more in the same. But thou shalt never know nor learn therein other thing without end. Thus was I learned that Love was our Lord’s meaning.” (from St. Julian of Norwich)

Today’s meditation was shared by Guest Blogger Andrew Hicks.