First Sunday After Christmas
2014
Father Adam Trambley
December 28, 2014,
St. John’s Sharon
In the beginning was the Word.
In the beginning,
when God created the heavens and
the earth,
And the
earth was a formless void
And the
Spirit of God hovered over the deep
In the beginning was the Word.
And the
Word was with God
And the
Word was God.
He was in
the beginning with God.
All things came into being through him:
Everything
made on the first day
Everything
made on the second day
Everything
made on the third day,
The contemporary Christian band
Third Day,
Everything
made on the fourth day,
Everything
made on the fifth day
Even everything
made on the sixth day
even we
human beings
came into being through the Word.
And without him not one thing came into being:
Not the
sun, moon, or stars,
Not the
angels and archangels,
Not even
fallen angels,
Not the
plants and animals,
Not even
poison ivy and mosquitoes,
Not one
single human being,
Not even
the most mean, nasty, horrible individuals,
Not one
thing came into being except through the Word.
The Word is life, and that life was the light of all.
The light shines in the darkness
And the
darkness did not overcome it.
This great passage from the beginning of John’s Gospel
Is called
the Prologue to the Gospel,
Since it
tells the story leading up
To
the life and work of Jesus.
Instead of the nativity story
With Mary
and Joseph
Or
shepherds and magi,
John fills out the story stretching back
Not to the
prophecies of the house of David
nor to
God’s deliverance in the Exodus
But to the very beginning of the creation of the Cosmos,
To the
first instant when still nascent humanity
Encountered
the life that would bring all things into being.
The Word, the Christ, the second person of the Trinity,
the Son,
the only-begotten of the Father,
The one to
be born Jesus from the flesh of the Virgin Mary,
This Word is shown clearly at the beginning of all things
As the
means by which the Almighty speaks
All
creation into being.
God said, “Let there be light”
And God’s
Word brought forth light,
And
there was light
And
it was good.
God said, “Let dry land appear” and
“Let the
earth put forth vegetation”
And “Let us
make humankind
In
our image,
According
to our likeness.”
And God’s
Word brought life into being.
Making
humankind in His image,
In
the image of God,
Male
and female,
And it was
very good.
We read this beautiful, expansive, hymn to the Word of God
During
Christmas
To remind
us that there is more to this story
Than magi,
mangers,
and shepherds watching their flocks
by night.
The heavenly host starts singing
And
“Gloria’s” resound in the heavens
Because the
Word has come to his own.
Because the
Light shines in the darkness
And
the darkness did not overcome it.
Because the
Life gave us power to become children of God
Who
were born of God.
Because
from the fullness of Truth
We
have received grace upon grace.
Because the
Son has made God known to us.
That Word became flesh and lived among us.
The Word of
God
becoming
a human in the image of God
that
the Word himself had formed.
The Word coming to us as the babe in Bethlehem.
The Word coming to us
With the
glory of the Father’s only Son,
So that we
might see the glory of God.
No one has ever seen God.
The Father
made us and sustains us
Through the
Son, His Word.
The Son,
The one close
to the Father’s heart,
The one
held in His Father’s tightest embrace
Is the one
who makes known the Father,
And who reveals his Father’s glory.
We desperately needed to see the Father’s glory
Because we
were walking in darkness.
Creation that had been created very good,
Saw
darkness creep in
And cause
it to dim.
Christ’s own had become so blind
That they could not recognize him
When he
came.
The people created through the Word of God
In the love
of God
For the
glory and pleasure of God
No longer
knew God,
And
they declined his invitation
To
get together for dinner.
But Christ came anyway,
To allow
anyone to accept him.
To allow
anyone to receive him.
To allow
anyone to invite him
Into
their homes and
Into
their hearts.
When we accept him;
When we ask Jesus to turn on the heavenly Light
And dispel
our own darkness;
When we beg the Word to speak truth
Into the
dishonesties and lies we tell ourselves;
When we steady our sights on the Son of God
So we
glimpse even a glimmer
Of the
Father’s glory;
When we come to his table
And do what
he commanded
in memory of Him;
When we are baptized
Not just
with the baptism of John
Who
witnessed to the light
But in the
Name of the Father
And of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit;
Jesus Christ makes us children of God,
Born not of
blood
Or of the
will of the flesh
Or of the
will of man,
But of God.
When we invite the Word of God who created us
To come and
take his rightful place
As light
and life in our lives,
We become
children of God.
We are born of God,
And we are
God’s.
Our identity is no longer in “our people”,
Who are
parents were
Or who are
parents weren’t.
Our worth is no longer
Whether
somebody wanted us
or whether
we felt unloved and unwanted.
Our destiny is no longer limited
To what we
have been told
And come to
believe about ourselves
Or the
opportunities we have had
Or the
self-esteem we have developed
Or the
roles we have been prepared to play.
Our being is no longer based
On what
other people say about us.
Our being is based on how God made us as his children.
Our destiny is a place in God’s eternal kingdom.
Our worth is the image and likeness of God.
Our identity is beloved of God.
We are born
Not for any
accident or human reason
But of God
Because God
wanted us and loves us.
As we,
God’s
children
Enlightened
by the true Light
Accepting
the Word
Grow deeper in the knowledge and love of the Son,
We come to know God.
Nothing else about the nativity means more than this:
That the human being Jesus
Is the
eternal Word of God
And has
made the Father know
And we can
now know Him.
We are here this Christmas to come to know God
As he comes
to us.
We come to his table,
We hear the
word of the Word,
And we care for one another
Because when we do
We
encounter Jesus
And when we encounter Jesus
We
encounter the Father
And when we encounter the Father through Jesus his Word,
We
encounter him as Our Father,
And we
encounter ourselves as his children,
and he hugs
us close to his heart.
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