May you have more and more grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
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... and without him not ONE THING came into being. What has come into being in HIM was LIFE. And the life, was the light, of ALL people. The light shines in the darkness. And the darkness did NOT overcome it.
These words of John's gospel are some of the most beautiful in scripture. So much mystery, such poetry. In just a few sentences, John somehow manages to capture the very essence of what and who God is --- In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was WITH God, and the Word WAS God.
John tell us that this Word is the source of all creation, all of life --- because the Word is life. And included in the all of creation - our world, our universe, plants, animals, oceans, tides - are human beings, people, us. John tells us that the Word is not only the SOURCE of our life but is also the LIGHT that shines in the darkness. The light that is OUR light, that shines and guides us through what is OUR darkness, the darkness of our lives. And the darkness does not overcome it.
I read this, or even better, listen to this, and I wonder... is this not enough? Is life not enough? With all it's beauty - in nature and in our creations, the love we feel from and for one another, our work and accomplishments, our affections and tenderness. Is this not enough of a gift? But no, God gives us more than life. God gives us the light to see through the darkness. The light to shine when we have lost our way. When we are frightened. When we cannot see the forest through the trees. God gives us life AND light.
And you would think that the story could end there. The story of God. And of God's relationship with us. We have a pretty good set up here, really. The wonders of life AND the light to guide us and shine for us when life gets difficult. That seems sufficient, more than we need, actually. A bonus.
But we seem to think that this s not enough. We prove to ourselves, time and time again, that these gifts from God are not enough. Though we have both the wonders of life AND a light to guide us, we still struggle. We still get lost. We suffer. And what is worse is that we cause others to suffer, to feel pain... sometimes intentionally, sometimes carelessly. But we hurt the people we love, we create wars we don't know how to end, we make a mess of things - relationships, intentions, our environment.
But these words of John are only the beginning of his Gospel. This is only the very beginning of our story. He tells us, and tells us quickly : "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."
The Word became flesh, and a child was born. A helpless child born to a young mother in a smelly barn. After the grandness of John's words about the beginning, and the light and the life --- we find our saviour and salvation has taken an unexpected form. Jesus, the Word made flesh, came to us as a baby, in utter helplessness, in complete vulnerability.
Jesus was born in this surprising and unexpected manner and what he brings to us is also surprising and unexpected. The Jewish people at that time were expecting a Messiah, a King who would restore Jerusalem, by hook or by crook.
But what they, and we, were given was a baby. Who would grow into a man and die a violent death. We were given a man who, unexpectedly, shared with all whom he encountered a message of Peace.
"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you." Jesus says later in the book of John.
Our Old Testament passage this morning, from the book of Isaiah, begins with these words: "How beautiful upon the mountain are the feet of the messenger who announces peace."
How desperate must the people of Israel been. How tired. How tired of war and wandering lost. How they must have been longing for a word, just a word of peace.. for Isaiah to say: "How beautiful upon the mountain are the feet of the messenger who announces peace."
We too are tired of war. We too become exhausted as we pass through the darker times of our lives. Peace is something we long for, even if we are not aware of that longing. You see, we get used to not knowing Peace. It becomes commonplace. War becomes commonplace. Broken relationships and broken spirits are just part of life's journey. Peace becomes something of a dream, something intangible.
I admit I cannot imagine what Peace in Israel and Palestine today might look like. Or in much of Africa. I was in Belfast in the early 90's during one of the temporary times of peace, and that seemed to mean that the armoured trucks and tanks rolling down the residential streets didn't fire at anything or anyone. We cannot seem to even HOPE for that kind of peace in Iraq or Somalia. The fighting just keeps going on and on.
But we know that Christ is our life and our light. And Jesus' birth announces the message of God's Peace to us. God's Peace here, with us.
The stuff of the world is all an illusion. We make it real by believing in it. By believing that sometimes that's just the way things are. By accepting war as commonplace. By expecting the pain and suffering in life as inevitable.
But we are wrong. God's peace was born in this world as a baby. It comes to us, dwells with us in the unexpected. In surprising places. Peace arrives as a baby... and is found on the cross... and in an empty tomb.
Christ gives us his peace, leaves it here with us. We celebrate today the arrival of that Peace. And with faith, we come to expect Peace in the world. We feel it in our hearts, we can see it in the world, and we can help others to see it too. See it as the ONLY reality, for it is God's reality. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Life and light. The birth of Peace.
May the Peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Amen.
Sermon by: Jen Kilps