God's Word: Jesus

Nativity of the Lord: Day – Cycle C

Isaiah 52: 7-10; Hebrews 1: 1-6; 

John 1: 1-18

 

The author of today's gospel reading tells a different story than we are used to hearing on Christmas.  There is no Mary, no Joseph, no manger, no stable – there are no shepherds, no angels, no bright star leading the magi from far away.  Instead, John introduces us to Jesus using poetry – wondrous images about the mystery and the glory of God:

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 through him, and without him nothing came to be.” (John 1: 1-3)

It is fitting that John the evangelist is symbolized as an eagle.  His words soar, lifting us up on its wings, taking us back to the beginning of creation, when everything began with a word.  God spoke – God spoke and the world came to be.  This all-powerful word of God created it all – galaxies so far and vast that their light takes centuries to reach us – cells so small that they cannot be seen except through a microscope – yet containing all the building blocks for life in our world.

After creation, God continued to speak.  God spoke out of the stillness to Abraham, and two elderly people were chosen to parent a promise.  God spoke to Moses from a bush aflame, and he led his people out of slavery to freedom.  God spoke to others as well – to Isaiah, to Jeremiah, to Ezekiel, Amos and Micah.  People listened for awhile … but then they would grow distracted, or bored or tired of the message.  But God continued to speak in partial and various ways – until He spoke more explicitly.

God said, “Jesus.”

And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth. (John 1: 14)

The darkness did not smother the Word.  The light that is Christ continues to shine and we are witnesses – testifiers to the light.  Sometimes our world chooses darkness – but the darkness will never extinguish the light that is Christ.  To us, God continues to say, “Jesus.”

In the face of persons carrying assault weapons into our schools and shooting down students and teachers, God says, “Jesus.”

In the face of racism, sexism, hatred and intolerance, God says, “Jesus.”

In the face of war, poverty, hunger and homelessness, God says, “Jesus.”

Again and again and again, God says, “Jesus.”

And the Word becomes flesh.  And the world is made new.  Here in this place of worship and community, God says, “Jesus,” over the bread and wine that enters into our bodies. And the Word becomes our flesh and dwells within us all.

God's word is truth.  God's word is strength.  God's word is love.  May we hear this word today and in the days ahead.  May we make room for it to dwell in our hearts and fill us with grace and truth.  Amen. 

Deacon Darryl J. Diemer

Nativity of the Lord

December 25, 2012

Seeing Joy Through The Tears

3^rd Sunday of Advent – Year C

Zephaniah 3: 14-18a; Philippians 4: 4-7; 

Luke 3: 10-18

Today we hear a bit of a change in tone from the readings of the past two Sundays. The previous two weeks we’ve been hearing phrases like “repent and make straight the Lord’s path.” We’ve heard about John baptizing in the desert – a baptism of repentance – preparing the way of the one who is to come. But today we hear “Shout for joy, O daughter Zion! Sing joyfully O Israel!” It’s a bit of a change. Look at our advent wreath – today our candle is a different color. We have a rose colored candle symbolizing joy amidst the purple candles of repentance.

So today we are supposed to feel joyful. We are supposed to feel the warmth of God’s unending love for us. Sometimes that is easier than done.

This season focuses on gift-giving – but many people are out of work or struggling financially; many are torn between not spending enough and spending too much without the means to pay for everything.

This season centers on the joys of being with family – but many people have lost loved ones during the past year; many live alone or are estranged from families that have caused more pain than joy.

Two days ago, we had another senseless massacre in one of our schools, this time in Connecticut.

So how do we tune out these distractions? How do we deal with the loneliness, the pain, the anger that we are all feeling? 

How do we find the joy?

In today’s gospel, people come from everywhere to hear John the Baptist – and they are all asking the same question: “Teacher, what should we do?” Maybe John’s answers will serve us too. John said “Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none. And whoever has food should do likewise.”

Maybe the first step to finding that joy is to stop thinking about ourselves and focus our attention outward. I know of no other activity that will boost morale and self-esteem better than volunteering our time for those less fortunate:

• Start a drive to collect food for those who are hungry
• Collect blankets and coats for those who go without
• Visit someone in the hospital or the nursing home
• Sent a Christmas card to someone in prison or to a soldier overseas

When I was twelve years old, I hung around with a group of kids about my same age – all except for one – his name was Jimmy but we all called him “Tag” because every time we turned around, he was there. Jimmy was eight years old and was not welcomed into the group with open arms. We used to sneak off when Tag wasn’t looking. That summer, one of the neighborhood girls, Jeanette, got and in-ground swimming pool. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to guess where we hung out that summer. We would spend hours in that pool every day. Tag wanted to come too, but he didn’t know how to swim. So Jeanette took matters into her own hands – while we were playing games in the deep end of the pool, Jeanette was teaching Tag how to swim in the shallow end. She never gave up, never lost patience, and by the end of that summer, Tag could swim well enough to play in the deep end too. That winter, Jeanette’s father was transferred out of state, and we lost our friend and our pool privileges. But Jeanette’s influence was still felt in the group. After that summer, Tag became part of our group.

Seeing Jeanette in action makes it easy to see God’s love for us through her. Scripture is full of images telling us to exalt – to sing to God in love and worship for all that God has given us. Today’s passage from Zephaniah puts a new twist on that sentiment. I had not heard this passage before this week, but it has quickly become one of my favorites:

He will rejoice over you with gladness and renew you with his love, he will sing joyfully because of you, as one sings in festivals.(Zephaniah 3:18)

Can you imagine – God is singing joyfully because of you! God loves us so much, that HE is singing for joy! I absolutely love that image.

But how do we know that God loves us? Where is the proof? That’s an easy question to answer. Look into the eyes of your spouse. Look into the faces of your children. Look into the heart of your best friend. Is that enough? Can you see it now – or do you still need more? There is one sure way of knowing God’s love for us - and you already know it! It’s imbedded in your mind. It’s written in your heart like the lyric of a song that you’ve heard your whole life:

 

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. (John 3:16)

That’s the good news that we should all be singing about.

Deacon Darryl J. Diemer

Third Week Of Advent - Year C

December 16, 2012