The Light Shines in the Darkness
Christmas I
John 1:1-18
December 31, 2006
Jim Melnyk

Theologian and author Isabel Anders writes, “John's Prologue is poetry, and, as such, should always leave us breathless, longing, believing – even as we are faced with the temptation to unbelief that continually nips at our souls” (Synthesis, December 31, 2006). “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness [has] not overcome it…. And the Word became flesh and lived among us….” (John 1:1, 3b-5, 14a)
        
The Incarnation is about more than God in Christ Jesus – it's the poet's song about God in us – about God in you – about God in me. The Incarnation is about God's desire for us to be a light that shines in the darkness – about God's desire for us to be the ongoing incarnation of Christ in the world around us.
        
Contrast that thought with the ongoing struggles within the Church today – Anglican, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Baptist, and on-and-on. Contrast that thought about being the light that shines in the darkness with an absolute loss of Incarnational poetry in the church's ideological battles today. In her daily blog, Food for Thought from the Geranium Farm, theologian and Episcopal priest Barbara Crafton writes:
        
“So much un-peace, in the Church and in the world. A peculiar pride in our own stubbornness has infected many of us -- as if reconciliation somehow represented a failure of moral nerve. We are strongly attracted to visions of ourselves as lonely martyrs for a holy truth -- and this is a dangerous self-image to have. It leaves no room to accept criticism we may desperately need.
        
And so we leave churches that aren't holy enough for us. Assume we know God's will solely through a narrow reading of scripture, and pride ourselves on never changing our minds. We stay the course.
        
In doing so, we are in danger of ignoring a God who is free. A God who does new things. We won't allow it. We insist on worshipping the ancient record of God's work in the world, instead of the God to which it all attests. We will not allow God to be the unexpected thing God must be in every age.
Here comes Jesus -- a child born into a world of division. In his name, we will exclude and even kill, and we will tell ourselves in that very moment that we are doing the work of the Prince of Peace.

No wonder Jesus wept”, writes Crafton. “Lord, have mercy.” (Copyright © 2006 Barbara Crafton – http://www.geraniumfarm.org)

Here comes Jesus – the Word of God made human flesh and dwelling among us; pure scandal in heavenly terms. Here comes Jesus – human flesh reflecting the God-head – the image and likeness of God affirmed in this one particular moment in time; pure scandal in the mindset of holier-than-thou-humans who can only see God in their own image.
        
Once again (this season) this morning we have heard the story unfold – from deepest desire and heart-felt longing to swaddling cloth, straw and heavenly chorus. In the midst of humanity's self-centered life, the Cosmos bends to the will of God, and reconciliation between the human heart and the heart of God takes on new meaning and new life. All the while God whispers in our ears: “Please get it right this time 'round. Please, for the sake of my love, for the sake of the world, please, please, get it right this time 'round.”
        
It has to be more than a story we rehearse once a year. Like Dickens' Scrooge or even Seuss' Grinch, it has to be a story that finds a welcome home, striving for life within our human hearts with every breath we take. If not, the story makes no sense. If we leave the babe lying in the manger and fail to embrace who that child becomes, then the day, the season, is really only about tinsel and toys, carols and presents, parties and over-stressed charge accounts.
        
Once again Anders writes, “The Prologue to John's Gospel dares to put words to what cannot be visualized and must be accepted by faith. Love existed at the heart of Deity, and this love graciously extended to the creation, us included, wrapping us up in a cosmic plan that we can only catch a glimpse of as we ponder the immensity of our salvation.” (Synthesis)
        
“In a world that increasingly searches the skies to find evidence of its origins, its nature, its meaning amid the vast expanse of interstellar space – how will we consider Christ the Word in our lives?” We need to learn once again to listen to the story with our hearts and not our heads. “Jesus has been called 'the eloquence of God,'” writes Anders. “How will we reflect this ultimate communication in the world, in our lives, in our hearts?” (ibid) Amen.

©2006 Jim Melnyk