Hymn to the Logos

 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.”  These are the opening words of the Gospel of John.  Whereas Matthew and Luke start with the beginning of Jesus’ earthly life, and Mark launches with the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, John goes back to the beginning of all things.

            Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”  The next chapter tells how God spoke everything into being.  God’s spoken word became the generative force from which everything emerged.  Drawing from God’s use of the spoken word for creation, John begins his gospel by pointing out that all things begin with the Word.  The Greek word that John uses for Word is Logos.  The Logos is more than just a word.  The Logos is The Word.  The Logos is God’s creative intention articulated to the universe.  The Logos is God Himself. 

            The more I pray, the more I realize that prayer isn’t about getting what you want.  Prayer is about God.  It’s about a growing intimacy with the Creator who spoke your name and called you into existence.  It’s about knowing God—knowing the Word.  So what’s the best way to know the Word?  Pray the Logos.  Pray the Word.

            John says that the Logos “was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men.”[i]  Prayer is about seeking God “in the beginning.”  It’s about daily starting over with God, in a place of uncomplicated trust.  His mercies “are new every morning.”[ii]  Each day is a new creation.  Revelation 21:5 says, “He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’"  In His newness of constant creation and renewal, Jesus points us back to his Word which is faithful and true.[iii]

            It was The Word who spoke the world into being.  It was The Word who fashioned Adam and breathed into him the breath of life.  A rabbinical tradition says that when God breathed into Adam, God actually spoke the divine name, Yahweh, into the molded man so that he came to life.  It was one word that energized the first man, and it is still the Word that gives us life today.  “In him was life, and that life was the light of men.”[iv]  What could be more powerful than The Word?  What could be more simple than a word?  The Logos Prayer invokes the power and the simplicity of both.

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[i] John 1:2-4 NIV

[ii] Lamentations 3:23 NIV

[iii] Revelation 19:11

[iv] John 1:4 NIV