Friends,
The Word became flesh. The Word became a person. The
Word took on anatomical proportions. The Word became a feeling,
thinking, dreaming, a growing individual. That's what 'flesh' means?
Skin and bones?
God's Word became flesh and blood, and that means our
word must become flesh as well. We need to somehow find that voice,
that word made flesh voice (which comes from all of our being--our
life, even).
A word made flesh is the only thing that really matters
in the world.
Am I off base? Steve Souther
Hi Steve.
No, I don't think you are off base. The whole "Actions
speak louder than words" thing comes to mind.
What this passage points to, I think, is that God's
word and actions are consistent with each other. Unlike ours, which
frequently are disconnected from each other. The whole "Do as I say,
not as I do" thing, or the "He talks a good game" thing. These all
point to inconsistency between our words and actions. Not so with God.
Initial thoughts.... Rick in Canada, eh?
The words we are willing to use can make a difference
in the world. We find ourselves once again standing in history at the
edge of the abyss. The balance is so fragile all it takes is the right
word in the right place at the right time and history for all time is
changed. We are judged by our words, certainly. But the judgement may
be far worse if we withhold our words, fearful to speak them, to send
that write that letter and mail it. The weight of it may be all that's
needed.
Imagine, if we could see clearly what words actually
do. It isn't far fetched, because of The Word, to believe it really
matters.
What if a world war was prevented by the weight of a
letter that someone had the courage to write. They may never know, but
one thing is certain: nothing would have happened if that word hadn't
gone out.
We are responsible to the Word, the world is a much
better place when it takes on flesh, our flesh!
Steve Souther
This mystery that surrounds us and is in us is almost too deep to proclaim. The Word
has become flesh and dwells among us? Why can't I accept my own body? Why cannot I accept
the materiality of life? Why am I a docetist at heart? Why can't I get my hands dirty in
the mix of darkness and light? Why can't I affirm Christ in the bowels of human suffering?
Indeed, to see his glory is to be able to do all the above!
tom in ga
See double images today in the lessons and in the contemplation of the birth of Jesus,
our Savior.
Begin with Mary. The first image: On Christmas we see her in the stable where she
"brought forth" her firstborn son. She is "treasuring" the shepherds'
report of their angelic vision and pondering it in her heart.
Now the second, the double of the vision:
At the cross, her station keeping, / Stood the mournful mother weeping, / Close to
Jesus to the last. / Through her heart, his sorrow sharing, / All his bitter anguish
bearing, / Now at length the sword had passed. ("At the Cross, Her Station
Keeping" [STABAT MATER])
Then consider Jesus. He "became flesh." See the fair little Lord Jesus,
swaddled, in the straw and hay of the manger. See his glory, "the glory of an only
Son coming from the Father, filled with enduring love" (Jn 1.14). "He is the
reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being" (Heb 1.3).
Now, the double of that image: See him at Pilate's judgment hall. See that once fair
face bloodied from the crown of thorns; that head, bowed. Dead.
Now see ourselves, united with our risen Lord. Know that his right hand and his left
hand and his holy arms have gotten him the victory. He has forever changed "this
sorry Scheme of Things entire." See us, then, each of us, with our child Jesus, our
risen Savior, continuing God's redeeming, remolding work.
Ah Love! Could you and I with Him conspire / To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things
entire, / Would not we shatter it to bits--and then / Re-mold it nearer to the Heart's
Desire! (From the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam)
I intend to reflect on the word Incarnation in "taking on humnan flesh." The
great mystery is God's love for us while we were still sinners. How do we enflesh our
human-ness and recognize how God is working in our lives? What can we do to make God more
real in our lives? Do those reality shows help make things real or are they a sham for
reality itself?
old priest in Iowa
old priest in Iowa,
You ask, "What can we do to make God more real in our lives?" If WE are DOING
something to MAKE GOD more REAL in our lives, then we are creating an idol that is NOT
God. It is always human temptation to control God, to make God, to be God, and sometimes
our language reinforces that tendency.
Instead, maybe we should be asking, "How can we better uplift the reality of God,
inspire responses to God's great and wonderful gifts, and show to the world the God the
world is often too blind to see."
May first reaction to reality shows is that they are stupid, but people make money on
them, so they'll probably continue for the forseeable future. The thing is, we are all
living a reality show all the time. People watch us, people vote us out of their lives
when they don't want to be friends anymore, people give us things when they think we've
earned them, and when they want something in return. We may not be famous, but we are
real, as the God who creates us is real.
Michelle
I need some help. A few years ago I used a story in my sermon based on this text. I
think I would like to use it again - but I can't find it.
The story is about a father who is an art collector and his son who gets killed in a
war. It goes on from there.....
If you have this story - please send it to me at cathyannplumer@yahoo.com
Thanks! Cathyann
Cathyann -- Think this is the story you're looking for:
Years ago, there was a very wealthy man who, with his devoted young son, shared a
passion for art collecting. Together they traveled around the world, adding only the
finest art treasures to their collection. Priceless works by Picasso and many others
adorned the walls of the family estate. The widowed elder man looked on with satisfaction
as his only child became an experienced art collector. The son's trained eye and sharp
business mind caused his father to beam with pride as they dealt with art collectors
around the world. As winter approached, war engulfed the nation, and the young man left to
serve his country. After only a few short weeks, his father received a telegram. His
beloved son was missing in action. The art collector anxiously awaited more news. fearing
he would never see his son again. Within days, his fears were confirmed, the young man had
died while rushing a fellow soldier to a medic. Distraught and lonely, the old man faced
the upcoming Christmas holidays with anguish and sadness. The joy of the season, that he
and his son had so looked forward to, would visit his house no longer.
On Christmas morning, a knock on the door awakened the depressed, old man. As he walked
to the door, the masterpieces of art on the walls only reminded him that his son was not
coming home. As he opened the door, he was greeted by a soldier with a large package in
his hands. He introduced himself to the man by saying, "I was a friend of your son. I
was the one he was rescuing when he died. May I come in for a few moments? I have
something to show you." As the two began to talk, the soldier told of how the man's
son had told everyone of his, not to mention his father's, love of fine art. "I am an
artist," said the soldier, "and I want to give you this." As the old man
unwrapped the package, the paper gave way to reveal a portrait of the man's son. Though
the world would never consider it the work of a genius, the painting featured the young
man's face in striking detail. Overcome with emotion, the man thanked the soldier,
promising to hang the picture above the fireplace. A few hours later, after the soldier
had departed, the old man set about his task. True to his word, the painting went above
the fireplace, pushing aside thousands of dollars worth of art. His task completed, the
old man sat in his chair and spent Christmas gazing at the gift he had been given.
During the days and weeks that followed, the man realized that even though his son was
no longer with him, the boy's life would live on because of those he had touched. He would
soon learn that his son had rescued dozens of wounded soldiers before a bullet stilled his
caring heart. As the stories of his son's gallantry continued to reach him, fatherly pride
and satisfaction began to ease his grief. The painting of his son soon became his most
prizedpossession, far eclipsing any interest in the pieces for which museums around the
world clamored. He told his neighbors it was the greatest gift he had ever received. The
following spring, the old man became ill and passed away. The art world was in
anticipation, that with the collector's passing, and his only son dead, those paintings
would be sold at auction.
According to the will of the old man, all of the art works would be auctioned on
Christmas Day, the day he had received the greatest gift. The day soon arrived and art
collectors from around the world gathered to bid on some of the world's most spectacular
paintings. Dreams would be fulfilled this day; greatness would be achieved as many would
claim, "I have the greatest collection." The auction began with a painting that
was not on any museum's list. It was the painting of the man's son. The auctioneer asked
for an opening bid, but the room was silent. Who will open the bidding with $100?,"
he asked. Minutes passed, and no one spoke. From the back of the room came a voice,
"Who cares about that painting? It's just a picture of his son." "Let's
forget about it and move on to the good stuff," more voices echoed in agreement.
"No, we have to sell this one first," replied the auctioneer. "Now, who
will take the son?" Finally, a neighbor of the old man spoke. "Will you take ten
dollars for the painting? That's all I have. I knew the boy, so I'd like to have it."
"I have ten dollars. Will anyone go higher?" called the auctioneer. After more
silence, the auctioneer said, "Going once, going twice, gone." The gavel fell.
Cheers filled the room and someone exclaimed, "Now we can get on with it and we
can bid on the real treasures!" The auctioneer looked at the audience and announced
that the auction was over. Stunned disbelief quieted the room. Someone spoke up and asked,
"What do you mean, it's over? We didn't come here for a picture of some old guy's
son. What about all of these paintings? There are millions of dollars worth of art here! I
demand that you explain what is going on!" The auctioneer replied, "It's very
simple. According to the will of the father, whoever takes the son...gets it all."
========
Hope that helps.
Blessings, Eric in OH
I love this text because sometimes the Luke 2 almost takes on a fairy tale quality
about it. Here we have what Christmas means - God becoming incarnate, God with us. I will
be speaking of the hymn "Twas in the Moon of Wintertime", also called The Huron
Carol. Most people seem to find it very strange when they first sing it. What do wandering
hunters have to do with the Christmas story? Well, this was written for the Huron Indians,
who wouldn't have known much about sheep, and probably didn't do much with the herding of
animals. To make the story understandable to them, shepherd needed to become hunters. Some
people find this offensive because "that isn't the way it's written," but that's
the way it need to be sung if the Indians were to understand it. I've always found the
chorus strange to sing, "Jesus your king is born, Jesus is born," with the two
beats of the "your" that seems to throw things off. But that emphasis is so
profound - it is "Your" king, not just the king of people back then, not just
the king of those who recognize themselves in shepherd, but your king. Christ becomes
incarnate anew in every culture and every life. Lisa in SoIL
I suspect many are having Christmas day, but most don't preach on the John text. I
really like that text, however. With all the winter weather we've been having, I'm
thinking about Garrison Keillor's story called "Storm Home," about the family in
town that was designated for him to go to if there was a storm during the school day and
they couldn't get out to their place. He never had to go there, and never even met the
couple, but he found great comfort in the idea of having a "storm home," a place
to go where he would be wanted and protected. They loomed large in his imagination. As the
years went by, he imagined that he could seek refuge with his storm parents from the
various non-weather-related storms which plagued life. It never happened, but he found
great comfort in the idea of being able to go. I'm going to talk aout Jesus Christ the God
become flesh as being our "storm home," that is, the place of refuge and safety
in our stormy world. I haven't really formed the whole thing, but I'm thinking in that
direction. Moose
There is a great entry in Henri Nouwen's book "The Road to Daybreak" for
March 20. He is reflecting on "The Word became flesh". I've centered my
meditation around this quote. Hope it is helpful to you.
"Until now my whole life has been centered around the word: learning, teaching,
reading, writing, speaking. Without the word, my life is unthinkable. A good day is a day
with a good conversation, a good lecture given or heard, a good book read, or a good
article written. Most of my joys and pains are connected with words.
"L'ARche, however, is built not on words, but on the body. The community of
L'Arche is a community formed around the wounded bodies of handicapped people (This is
where Nouwen ended living and ministering... among people who could barely sit up or feed
themselves.) Feeding, cleaning, touching, holding - this is what builds the community.
Words are secondary. Most handicapped people have few words to speak, and many do not
speak at all. It is the language of the body that counts most of all.
"'The Word became flesh.' That is the center of the Christian message. Before the
Incarnation, the relationship between body and word was unclear. Often the body was seen
as a hindrance to the full realization of what the word wanted to express. But Jesus
confronts us with the word that can be seen, heard, and touched. The body thus becomes the
way to know the word and to enter into relationship with the word. The body of Jesus
becomes the way to life. 'He who eats my body and drinks my blood will have eternal life.'
"I feel a deep resistance against this way. Somehow I have come to think about
eating, drinking, washing, and dressing as so many necessary preconditions for reading,
speaking, teaching, or writing. Somehow the pure word was the real thing for me. Time
spent with 'material' things was necessary but needed to be kept to a mininum. But at
L'Arche, that is where all the attention goes. At L'ARche the body is the place where the
word is met. It is in relationship to the wounded body of the handicapped person that I
must learn to discover God.
"This is very hard for me. I still find a long meal in the middle of the day a
waste of time. I still think that I have more important things to do than to set the
table, eat slowly, wash the dishes, and set the table again. I think, 'Surely we must eat,
but the work which comes after is what counts.' But L'ARche cannot be endured with this
mind set.
"I wonder when and how I will learn to fully live the Incarnation. I suppose that
only the handicapped people themselves will be able to show me the way. I must trust that
God will send me the teachers I need."
I'm not using the entire quote. I've just adapted parts. But I found it useful,
especially since we are celebrating communion that day.
God be with you all. DGinNYC
This text is one which some of us love and some of us hate. To me it is one of the most
glorious passages in scripture, speaking of the Logos and the incarnation. But I've
discovered over the years that to many people who are much more concrete in their thinking
than I am, this is a passage which just seems like a bunch of gobbledygook to them. A big
part of my focus in this message is going to be simply explaining trying to make the
abstract concrete for some folks.
I think this is a great text for basic teachings on Jesus. I remain amazed at how many
people who have spent decades in church pews still don't realize we teach the divinity of
Jesus. Even more have no idea we teach that creation took place through Jesus. The whole
point of emphasizing these basics is not to make people feel stupid, but rather to
emphasize the wondrous miracle of the incarnation.
The second emphasis of my message will be on verse 12... that to those who received him
he gave the power to become children of God. I think often we like Christmas because we
are dealing with "baby Jesus", the "sweet little Jesus boy". You know,
the baby who doesn't cry when he wakes up. To our eyes he appears defenseless, powerless,
dependent on us, and subject to our control. We like that type of Jesus much more than a
Jesus who reminds us of our sin, who calls for us to sacrifice our entire life, and who
challenges us by living a life of purity. This will be a big opportunity to remind people
of their opportunity to reunite with God through Jesus.
"Word to the People"
Dan
The "Word" and the "Wordless Word": I am overwhelmed by this
mystery...this power of ""Presence"....this "breathe of YHWH".
The spirituality in psycholinguistic phenomenon calls me to research and reflect upon
Heidegger, Walker Percy, and Jacques Derrida's language theories, George Kelly's
"personal construct" theory, the mysticism of Hasidism and Kabbalah of jewish
tradition dealing with the word...not to forget the work of Kierkegarrd and Barth opening
vistas to the Word of God. Such abstract research meditation and yet the Sacred Presence
of Love Incarnate meets me/us in encounter, confrontation, in the our unique concrete
particularity. Nail-Bender's revelations in personal witness of living stories does so
much more than psycholinguistic theory! Just reflecting on this powerful scripture of the
Word, not to be taken for granted....."He who reads the Torah, and is not troubled by
it...who prays simply because he prayed yesterday......the worst scoundrel is better than
he". (saying from Hasidism) PaideiaSCO in north ga mts seeking a vision of the Word
in the night made Holy
In UMC tradition I have selected the first hymn for the first Sunday of the New year;
" And Are We Yet Alive."This hymn has become an opening hymn for many Annual
conferences that I have attended.
Verse 3 of the first Chapter of john's prologue is the basis for a "Logos
Christology" presented by K.H. Ting and found in the Chinese Theological Review. The
theological premise is that if all of creation is "through" the Word then there
is within all humanity a portion of Christ with us. This is similar to George Fox's
"Inner Light" and Wesley's idea of "Prevenient Grace."
As a pastor I see my role as one which encourages the hearer to discover and nurture
the Christ that is already within them. This starting point has been very refreshing and
fulfilling to me. Knowing that Christ abides within may not fir with other theologies but
it works for me.
A W-G rocky coast Me.
I'll be using John Wesley's Covenant Service for the New Year, very moving way to start
the year. Our Bishop recently shared this reading from Eugene Peterson's version of the
NT. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us = God moved into the neighborhood! He's
already here! Emmanuel= God with us! Rejoice! So many times we pray "bless this and
bless that", the Bishop suggested we need to pray, "God let me (us) be a part of
what You are blessing!" Because He, the Word, who became flesh, is Moving about,
doing His will! Bless us by letting us be a part of it, in the neighborhood where You
already are! Thank you Lord! LS
My sermon will be called "In the Fullness of Time." John's account of the
Word brings into perspective the eternal nature and time specific nature of Jesus. He is
who always was and always will be. Yet, as the Word-become-flesh, Jesus is who is now. He
is the fullness of time. With all the emphais on the canging calendar it should be
comforting to sit back as the hoopla dies down (and the hangovers fade) to realize that
Jesus is eternal and rejoice in right-now presence of Jesus.
---
On a related note. While preparing my sermon today, commentator Robert Trout (Of
classic radio days) spoke on NPR's All Things Considered (December 29, 1999). He mentioned
how his deffintion of heroes of the 20th century would be quite different from one's from
a different generation. Heroes are developed out of the events of one's own coming of age.
In Trout's case, the great depression.
Then he said this quote:
"People find their heroes in experience, not history."
The word became flesh and dwelt with us. The vital message of the Christmas season is
that Jesus is not a historical event, but a "right-now" presence. As christians,
what we need to be in the business of doing is making Jesus an experience for today so
that those who are coming of age can claim him as a hero from their genuine experience of
the Word dwelling among us and not some historical person who we read about.
Peace, DWR
I also have been intrigued by the concept of "he gave power to become children of
God" however I am intrigued by the order in which that power appears.
It seems that the power is given after receiving and believing -- not before, perhaps
concurrently.
Is it possible that merely receiving Jesus and believing in him do not make us children
of God? Is there more that needs to occur? Do we need to utilize the power we are given or
else fall short of our full inheritence (is there even an inheritance if we don't utilize
the power to become children of God?)
Having said that I know the word the NRSV translates as "power" isn't the
typical "power" word, and is translated by the NIV and others as
"right", but still we have to excercise that right, don't we? Any Greek scholars
out there have some help for those of us with crashed computer programs?
Anyway, I plan to link with 1 John 3:10 and the concept that there is more to being a
Christian than merely saying, "Jesus is Lord" and giving intellectual assent. We
need to truly believe and that belief needs to lead us to doing what is right.
JR in TX
The NIV says, "he gave the right to become children of God." Interesting.
Receiving the power is receiving spiritual rights as in a family legal setup. I'm focusing
on being close to the heart of God. Jesus is from the heart of God, is the Logos, the
Light of the "world." We, Christ's followers, are still "dwelling" in
the "world." What does it mean to be in the heart of God? What does the heart of
God look like? Are there any physical analogies that can serve as metaphors? ---David
& Jane-Ann in Ohio
Some of you mentioned being intrigued by the order of accepting and giving the power to
become children. could someone explain the Greek to me. I know word order is different,
but phrase order? In the Greek it is that "to those whe accept him, he gives the
power to become children of God, who believe on his name." My Greek is not good
enough to understand why we change the order when we translate it. If the order were not
changed then for merely accepting we are given the power to become children of God and the
belief is a consequence and not a prerequisite to becoming children. I know that when my
faith grows thin it is strengthened by the Spirit. My Luther's catechism taught us that
faith itself comes from God. Perhaps this is what it really says here? Dana, Vestal, NY
I was hoping that some of you would have some ideas about chronos & chairos
(spelling?)I could use. also some of you may find the recent TV movie, Tuesday's with
Morrie useful in your discussion of transformation - the longer the young sportswriter
spends with Morrie, the more transformed he becomes. The story is about time, the time
Morrie with ALs dosn't have much of & the time the young sportswriter squanders.
-linda in MD
