The Word does not return empty

In the beginning was the Word.
Before the book,
 even before language,
there was the Word.

A calling, inviting, creating,
ordering and blessing Word.
A Word born of a divine love
that overflows into all of creation,
saturating all things with that love.
The Word of the Creator did not return empty.

A generative Word.

And the Word gave birth to more words.
Words of promise and Torah,
words of wisdom and prophecy,
comforting words and abrasive words of lament,
words of truth and justice, of compassion and mercy.
Sweet words, words to enlighten our paths.
The Word had a story to tell,
 a wild, conflicted, torturous tale of
 God’s incurable love,
  against the odds,
  in the face of death,
  in the face of lies.

A scripted Word.
The Word which was before the book,
 gave birth to a whole library of books.
And these words, too, do not return empty.

A bibliographic Word.
A journalistic Word.
And the Word,
 the generative Word that called forth all of creation,
 the scripted Word of promise, prophecy, wisdom and Torah,
 the narrative Word of God’s redemptive way with humanity,
became flesh.

It couldn’t be any other way.
The Word of creation is for creation.
The Word of promise must be fulfilled.
The storied Word was always on the path of incarnation.

The Word became flesh,
the light shined anew in the darkness;
in the face of a culture of deceit, the truth was embodied in Jesus;
in a degenerative world of shame, we beheld his glory and grace.
The Word that went to the cross, but emptied the tomb,
and returned in resurrection power.

A regenerative Word.

Editors, writers, designers and readers of Christian Courier
know a lot about words.

And they know that not all words are created equal.
Some words propagate lies.
Some words deceive and abuse.
Some words bear witness to idolatry,
 and other words are idols themselves.

It is true enough, dear friends, that we are people of the Word.
 But so is everyone else.
All of life is scripted, all worldviews tell a story,
all human behaviour is rooted in words.
 The question is which ones?

Which words generate life?
Which words birth wisdom?
Which words can give us vision beyond the range of normal sight?
Which word is a word of profound and radical regeneration?

And how can we discern a true word,
 a word that is worth reading,
 a word that is of life, not death,
 a regenerative word,
 a word worthy of the One who is the Word made flesh?

Over the years Christian Courier
has sought to know the answer to this question.

If the Word that we seek is an inspired Word;
if it is a Word that bears the breath of the Spirit
 that hovered over the waters in the beginning;
the Spirit who accompanied the Israelites out of Egypt,
 who inspired her prophets, the writings and the Torah;
if it is this Spirit that came upon the Word made flesh;
 then we will recognize this generative Word
 by the rich fruit that it bears;
 nothing less than the fruit of the Spirit.

All words that are worthy of this creative, scripted and enfleshed Word
 will bear the fruit of love, joy, peace,
 patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness,
 gentleness and self-control.

You will know them by their fruit.
And we rightly judge words by the fruit that
they bear in every dimension of our lives.

My dear friends, Christian Courier has been a steward of the Word
in our midst.

More than a magazine,
Christian Courier is a ministry of the Word.

And we are here to testify that this ministry
has indeed born rich fruit,
nothing less than the fruit of the Spirit in our midst,
for eighty years.

And for that, we are deeply, deeply grateful.

Let us pray.

This meditation was written in conjunction with the litanies, readings and live music performed during Christian Courier’s 80th anniversary celebration on October 18, 2025.