Readings week of October 19th.
Readings from last week's Daily Contemplative Pauses
*All previous readings & reflections can be found here*
Monday, October 19th
Reading: “The Bible’s creation story first tells how “God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light” (Genesis 1:3). Yet, as Jesus says in the Gospel of Thomas, this cannot refer to the light of the sun or the moon, because the Genesis story shows that these had not yet been created. Instead, Jesus interprets that primordial light as an image of the divine energy that originated at the beginning of time and brought forth the whole universe—galaxies and stars, trees, stones, fish, birds, animals, and human beings. Jesus also speaks of himself as embodying that energy: “I am the light that is before all creation; I am all things. Everything came forth from me, and everything returns to me. Split a piece of wood, and I am there; lift up a rock, and you will find me there.””
“Whereas the New Testament’s Gospel of John declares that Jesus alone is “the light of the world,” the Gospel of Thomas says instead that whether we know it or not, every one of us comes from that same divine Source. The “image of God” hidden deep within each of us, Jesus says, is “light”—that is, divine energy that connects every one of us with the divine Source from which we all come.”
— Elaine Pagels, Reading the Secret Teachings of Jesus on Death Row: The Gospel of Thomas teaches that all of humanity is connected to the divine Source
Chant: We were born of the light, there where light is born of light — Susan Latimer
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