Only a Word?
by Kurt Hansen
based on John 1:1-14

IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD. THE FIRST LINE OF JOHN'S GOSPEL. IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN AN INTRIGUING LINE. IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD. AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD. AND THE WORD WAS GOD. GOD IS, IN THE BEGINNING, A WORD. BUT IN THE ULTIMATE PLAN OF GOD IN THE UNFOLDING OF CREATION, GOD WOULD BECOME SO MUCH MORE. GOD WOULD BECOME A HUMAN PERSON. GOD WOULD BE BORN AS YOU AND I WERE BORN. AND LIVE A LIFE OF DAY TO DAY EXISTENCE, LIKE YOU AND I LIVE. AND EVENTUALLY GOD WOULD DIE, LIKE YOU AND I WILL DIE. AND THEN GOD WOULD LIVE ON, RISING ABOVE DEATH AND EARTHLY LIFE, TO SHOW TO ALL PEOPLE WHAT GOD'S WORD HAS ALWAYS MEANT.

THERE WAS A TIME, BEFORE YOU WERE BORN, WHEN YOU EXISTED AS A WORD. YOUR PARENTS, IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, SPOKE OF YOU AS A CONCEPTION, A NOTION OF THE FUTURE, BEFORE THEY UNITED TO CREATE YOU IN THE FLESH. YOU EXISTED AS A WORD, A PROMISE OF POTENTIAL LIFE, AN EXPRESSION OF EMOTION AND POSSIBILITY.

BUT THEN THERE WAS REQUIRED AN ACTION OF CREATION. AN XPLOSION OF CREATIVE ENERGY AND YOU BEGAN TO UNFOLD AS A HUMAN BEING, A WORD MADE FLESH. YOU HAD NO IDEA OF YOURSELF FOR AWHILE, NO NOTION OF YOUR GROWING SELF, NO SENSE OF CONTROL OVER YOUR LIFE, YET THE CELLS IN YOUR BODY MULTIPLIED AND GREW CONTINUOUSLY, AND YOUR EXISTENCE IN THE FLESH BECAME MORE AND MORE ESTABLISHED. YOU WERE BORN. BLINDING LIGHT! A RUSH OF AIR ONTO YOUR SHIVERING, WET BODY, AND INTO YOUR TINY LUNGS FOR THE FIRST TIME. LOUD SOUNDS INVADED YOUR EARS. AND THE FEEL OF HUMAN FLESH TOUCHING YOUR BODY FOR THE FIRST TIME. THE UMBILICUS - YOUR CONNECTION TO THE LIFE IN THE WOMB - WAS CUT. AND YOU WERE SHOCKED WITH THE XPERIENCE OF LIVING AS AN INDIVIDUAL HUMAN BEING. ALIVE AND IN THE FLESH AND IN THE WORLD.

WHEN YOU WERE STILL ONLY A LITTLE BABY, BEFORE YOUR LIFE UNFOLDED MUCH AT ALL, YOU HEARD SOUNDS AND SAW LIGHT, BUT YOU HAD LITTLE UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT THESE EXPERIENCES MEANT. YOU SMELLED AND TASTED, AND YOU COULD FEEL HUNGER AND COLD AND THE SOOTHING TOUCH OF YOUR MOTHER'S HANDS. PEOPLE SPOKE AROUND YOU, BUT YOU HAD NO IDEA WHAT THOSE SOUNDS MEANT. THAT WOULD COME LATER. AFTER YOU HAD GROWN AND MATURED. SO ALSO WITH THE WORD OF GOD. GOD'S WORD WAS SPOKEN AT CREATION. GOD'S WORD HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE UNFOLDING OF CREATION EVERY STEP OF THE WAY. BUT PEOPLE DID NOT UNDERSTAND THIS WORD. PEOPLE NEEDED TO COME TO A TIME AND PLACE IN HISTORY, AN EVOLUTION IN THEIR DEVELOPMENT BEFORE THEY COULD BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND WHAT GOD'S WORD HAD ALWAYS BEEN SAYING. AND ACCORDING TO THE DIVINE WISDOM OF GOD, THAT TIME AND PLACE WAS THE MIDDLE EASTERN WORLD, IN THE BIRTH AND LIFE'S WORK OF JESUS, SON OF MARY AND JOSEPH OF BETHLEHEM.

STILL, EVEN THOUGH THE WORD HAD BECOME FLESH, EVEN THOUGH THIS WORD OF GOD COULD NOW SPEAK PLAINLY - FACE TO FACE - IT WAS NOT DURING HIS LIFE THAT PEOPLE WOULD COME TO UNDERSTAND WHO HE WAS AND WHAT HE WAS ABOUT. THIS WORD OF GOD WOULD BE FIRST MISUNDERSTOOD AND REJECTED, THEN DISPOSED OF BY HUMAN IGNORANCE AND SINFUL ARROGANCE AND LUST FOR POWER. BUT THE WORD WAS ENFLESHED. THE WORD WAS ETERNALLY INTERMINGLED WITH A HUMAN BODY, AND THE WORD COULD NO LONGER BE HELD DOWN. EVEN DEATH COULD NOT HOLD HIM ANY LONGER. HE ROSE AGAIN, A LIVING WORD IN A RESURRECTED BODY, TO GO ON AND ON FOREVER, AND AFTER HIS FOOTSTEPS, EACH OF US - YOU AND ME - WILL FOLLOW.

YOU HAVE RECEIVED THIS WORD OF GOD. IT HAS BEEN PROCLAIMED TO YOU IN THE SCRIPTURES AND FROM THIS PULPIT. IT WAS SPOKEN IN WORDS OF PROMISE AND A SPLASH OF LIVING WATER IN YOUR BAPTISM. AND YOU HAVE RECEIVED IT IN BODILY FORM THROUGH THE FAITH EVENT OF HOLY COMMUNION. BECAUSE OF THESE THINGS, YOU ARE UNITED WITH COUNTLESS MILLIONS OF OTHERS, WHO ALSO HAVE RECEIVED THIS WORD. IN YOU AND IN THEM, IN A VARIETY OF LANGUAGES AND TIMES AND PLACES, THE WORD HAS BECOME FLESH - YOUR FLESH - AND DWELLED WITHIN AND AMONG YOU.

YET IT REMAINS ONLY A WORD - A SPOKEN THING, AN IDEA, AN ABSTRACTION - UNLESS AND UNTIL YOU GIVE IT EARTHLY EXISTENCE. JESUS WAS THE WORD OF GOD, AND WITH GOD AT THE BEGINNING, AND ALL CREATION CAME THROUGH HIM, BUT UNTIL HE TOOK ON EARTHLY FLESH AND WALKED AND TALKED AND PREACHED AND HEALED - AND YES, EVEN DIED FOR OTHERS - NO ONE COULD UNDERSTAND WHAT THE WORD WAS. NO ONE KNEW WHAT GOD HAD ALWAYS BEEN SAYING - WHO GOD HAD ALWAYS BEEN - HOW GOD HAD ALWAYS FELT IN RELATIONSHIP WITH CREATION.

SO ALSO IN YOUR EMBODIMENT OF THE WORD. IT IS ONLY IN WHAT YOU DO THAT THE WORD BECOMES FLESH FOR OTHERS. IT IS ONLY IN WHAT YOU DO THAT THE WORD - THE WORD OF GOD - THE WORD GOD HAS SPOKEN TO ALL CREATION THROUGH JESUS CHRIST - BECOMES REAL FOR OTHERS. IT IS IN WHAT YOU DO - THAT PEOPLE CAN COME TO KNOW WHO GOD IS AND WHAT GOD IS TRYING TO SAY.

IN THE BEGINNING, WAS THE WORD. AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD. AND THE WORD WAS GOD. BUT NOW THE WORD HAS BECOME FLESH. NOW THE WORD IS A PART OF YOU. THE JOYS OF HEAVEN AND ETERNAL LIFE WITH GOD HAVE BEEN GIVEN TO YOU. MAY YOU CARRY THIS WORD DEEP IN YOUR HEART, AND MAY YOU OFFER IT THROUGH THE CREATIVE WORK OF YOUR LIPS AND YOUR HANDS AND YOUR FEET TO OTHERS WHO HAVE NOT HEARD. REMEMBER, IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD. BUT EVERY DAY IS A NEW BEGINNING.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! IN THE NAME OF CHRIST, AMEN.