The wonder of God's living WORD born among us.
A meditation on John 1:1-12
Christmas Day 2009
Janet Watrous.


I am very glad to see all of you here. I mean that literally. More than 35 years ago, when I was an undergraduate student in England, I spent Christmas with a family where the mother had become my mother's pen pal in their girlhood. On Christmas Day, Dorrie took me to the neighborhood parish for the service. I was the only person in the congregation! The vicar, the verger and I! Must be a song there!

I'm glad you here for another reason. This gospel we've heard takes a certain courage to hear and even more courage to explore. I am glad to have company in this holy yet daunting task!

It only takes the first 14 verses to set up all that will come in this gospel. The first and the last verses say it all. I'm using the New English Bible translation:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and what God was the Word was. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.

In the opening phrase of the gospel, we are hurtled back in time, before the heavenly host sings on Bethlehem's plain, before the Angel Gabriel speaks to Mary, before Elizabeth's pregnancy. Back we go through times of light and darkness until we land at Genesis, chapter 1, verse 1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. There, in the first darkness, when the earth was a vast waste and darkness covered the deep, God said Let there be light, and there was light. The Word was with God, and what God was the Word was even then.

It is that Word, present in creation, in the calling of Israel to be God's people, in the proclamations of the prophets, whose birth we celebrate today.

We really don't know anything about this birth, except that it happened! That doesn't matter, because the truth of this good news does not rely on a birth announcement. What we know is that at a particular time and in a particular place Jesus was born, and lived among us. Not preaching from on high or teaching in the university or publishing a theology book. He lived among us, and the first “us” he lived among were Galilean peasants. A more ordinary ordinary folk would be hard to find.

He is among us to bring us into a relationship with him and each other. As we become part of Jesus, giving ourselves to him, our very selves are born again, and we are made new. The rite of baptism walks us through this process, insisting that in the water of baptism we are buried with Christ in his death and raised with him to a new life. In this new relationship, we are one with the Word who was present at creation with God and then took flesh and blood, only to offer them back to God. Eternal life begins when we live into that union with Christ, he dwelling in us and we in him.

For me, that takes courage. It is a clear call to an adult life in Christ, a surrendering of self in order to be part of eternity, here and now. Everything that happens-- every relationship and every event--is transformed by belonging to the realm of light and life.

In her latest book, An Altar in the World, Episcopal priest Barbara Brown Taylor says: “The meaning we give to what happens in our lives is our final, inviolable freedom. Only you can decide whether God has answered you.”

In the opening verses of his gospel, John offers a meaning for what happens in our lives. John's gospel is for grown ups who welcome a truth that is paradoxical, a reality that holds profound, heartrending truth in the events of daily life, and a faith that clings to the light that is not overcome by the darkness.

So we find ourselves at some distance from the rosy glow of the manger focused on the infant Jesus. Instead, we are faced with the ferocious John the Baptist and with a Jesus whose life began long before the angel Gabriel spoke to Mary. John's gospel relies on an adult experience of life, where we're trying to connect daily life and relationships with one who tells us he is here so we can have an abundant life. Sometimes the rubber hits the road pretty hard. But John's gospel says there is an absolute connection between this Jesus and the word that was God at the beginning.

When this majestic and tender Word takes our life, and becomes one of us, we know Emmanuel, God with us. As the Word has taken our life, we are invited to take his life, to let our flesh and our blood be mingled. We are offered a meaning for our lives in the here and now and in the forever. Joy to the world, we sing with all our hearts: The Lord is come!

©2009 Janet Watrous