Jeremiah 31:7-14 Ephesians 1:1-14 John 1:1-18
At this time of year it is easy to be attuned to images of light and darkness as we hear in our gospel reading today. I grew up in the Midwest where the darkness is also accompanied by real cold and snow – so the contrast between dark/cold winters and light/warm summers was sharp. I grew up in a Swedish Lutheran community in Illinois on the Mississippi. Early in the Christmas season, as the days grew shorter, we would begin the Christmas by celebrating the feast of Santa Lucia. I think she is the only Lutheran saint, I don’t remember celebrating any others. For Santa Lucia young girls dress up in traditional Swedish costumes and serve coffee and cardamom rolls to the family on the morning of December 13th. On the Lucia’s head is a crown of lights – electric ones in my day! For Scandinavians, who see very little sunlight in the winter, Lucia represents the promise that the light will return. She is the patron saint of the blind as she was blinded during her martyrdom in the 3rd century. Her name comes from the same root as the Latin word for light – lux. She is the rival of Lucifer, the Prince of Darkness and a fallen angel. All of this has some definite pagan overtones and for me as a child was alternately beautiful and scary - hearing the stories about the Lucia and the Lucifer. Then came Christmas Eve. It was always the center of the Christmas season when I was growing up. We children waited impatiently through dinner to open presents, as was the custom of our tradition. After presents we walked in the snow to church. Every house was decorated with colored lights and the church glowed with light from within. Luckily by the time I was born the Swedes had stopped celebrating “Julatta” a Christmas morning service celebrated at 5am.(They did revive it later, but then I was old enough to avoid it!) My father, an amateur primitive painter, made a picture of Julatta – sleds ploughing through the snow behind horses and each driver carrying a torch of bright light in the cold dark morning. One of my favorite parts of the Christmas Eve service both in the past and in the present is when the lights are turned off and for a moment we all sit in unexpected darkness. Then one by one the acolytes light their candles and pass down the aisle, lighting the candle of the person on the end, and then each in turn lighting the candle of the person next to them. Finally all the people are bathed in candle light and it is so beautiful to see the faces in the soft Christmas light, each face with its own ring of light. Light and enlightenment are two of the themes of Christmas and our gospel today and also a central theme of the very beginning of the Bible. In Genesis the very first of God’s creations for the world was light.
So, let me read to you the opening verses of the first chapter of the Book of Genesis. “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.”
Now, compare that reading with a portion of our reading today from the first chapter of the Gospel according to John. “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… 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. From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.”
Amazing, how much those two readings sound alike. Bible scholars think it is no accident that the author of the Gospel according to John began his writing this way, by imitating the first chapter of Genesis. In the creation story God begins a new world, creating something out of nothing: land, water, creatures and most importantly, and first of all, light. And God separates the light from the darkness. In the 1st chapter of John Jesus is called logos in Greek, which means word plus reason – ending up with a meaning something like wisdom. Jesus, or the logos, is present before the creation of the world, and in fact, the world was created through him and nothing was created without him including light. Jesus is the light. Jesus is OUR light. The point for the author of John’s Gospel is that Jesus is God and Jesus was present at the creation of the earth, and that Jesus is also of the earth. This mysterious puzzle is called the Incarnation – when translated means made of meat – like carne in Spanish. Jesus is flesh like us and still 100% God. There are two main themes in the Gospel according to John. These are Jesus’ relationship to the Father and Jesus’ relationship to the world and the believers. So to sum up the first theme as best I can – in John’s gospel, Jesus is the creative word and reason of God and becomes human flesh to bring enlightenment to human beings and to save us humans from the darkness that surrounds us.
Now when I read the section of the gospel that sounds like the beginning of Genesis I left out a chunk in the middle. And that part goes like this: “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.” John the Baptist shows up here in the middle of Jesus’ big moment – why? Last month we talked about how John the Baptist is portrayed in Luke’s gospel as the last of the prophets in the style of the Old Testament. He ends the religious chapter of the rule of law, the law given by God to Moses, and begins the rule of salvation, or grace and truth, through Jesus Christ. The author of John compares the giving of the law from God to Moses and the giving of truth and grace to people from Jesus. Jesus as human being brings a new creativity and beginning to the world – which we call enlightenment. I talked about how we must prepare ourselves for the great change that the birth of Jesus represents, a change of earthquake proportions. This is where John the Baptist comes in – he testifies to the light of Christ – he testifies that Jesus existed before the beginning of time as we know it – and he witnesses to all of this so all might believe through his testimony. And this is important because in order to know God, to receive the grace and truth of Jesus, and to become God’s children and heirs to the Kingdom, we must believe that Jesus is God himself infleshed – in human form. So to sum up the second theme – it isn’t enough to see the light, to believe that Jesus is God in the flesh and become one with God and Jesus as part of the light; we also must share the light with other people. Last Thursday night, New Year’s Eve, I joined other folks here at St. George’s in rings of light as we walked the labyrinth outside and a canvas labyrinth laid out in the parish hall. Jane and Craig, as our hosts, lit candles all around and through the labyrinths, bathing them and the people walking in silence through the night in soft and intense points of light. For me it was the perfect end to the Christmas season. We walked together in the light and we shared it with newcomers – even some young men who “heard” about the labyrinth walk and saw the pinpoints of light in the darkness came to see what it was all about. Jane was able to explain to them about the labyrinths and invite them to come any Sunday and join us. She testified to the light that shines here at St. George’s.
I can’t remember where I got the idea, but a number of years ago when I taught Jr. High Sunday School at St. Michael’s, I had each young person read the portion of the gospel we read today about testifying to the light. In place of John the Baptist’s name I had them say their own name – and by the time they had each read I had tears running down my face. It became so personal and real for me, that they were messengers of the light, too. And that it was my job to hand off the light to them. They were polite enough not to mention that I was crying, and it was a moving moment for me. Each of us is sent from God to testify to the light that is Jesus Christ.
Let’s try and see how that sounds now – and I’ll try not to cry this time. Let me start with Amber.
“There was a woman sent from God, whose name was Amber. She came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through her. She himself was not the light, but she came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.”
“There was a woman sent from God, whose name was Jane. She came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through her. 8She himself was not the light, but she came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.”
“There was a man sent from God, whose name was Craig or Jim or Bill or Dave or Arthur or Dennis. They came as witnesses to testify to the light, so that all might believe through them. They themselves were not the light, but they came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.”
“There were people sent from God, and they were called St. George’s Episcopal Church in Antioch, California. They came as witnesses to testify to the light, so that all might believe through them. They themselves were not the light, but they came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.” Let it be so!
Amen.
So, let me read to you the opening verses of the first chapter of the Book of Genesis. “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.”
Now, compare that reading with a portion of our reading today from the first chapter of the Gospel according to John. “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… 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. From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.”
Amazing, how much those two readings sound alike. Bible scholars think it is no accident that the author of the Gospel according to John began his writing this way, by imitating the first chapter of Genesis. In the creation story God begins a new world, creating something out of nothing: land, water, creatures and most importantly, and first of all, light. And God separates the light from the darkness. In the 1st chapter of John Jesus is called logos in Greek, which means word plus reason – ending up with a meaning something like wisdom. Jesus, or the logos, is present before the creation of the world, and in fact, the world was created through him and nothing was created without him including light. Jesus is the light. Jesus is OUR light. The point for the author of John’s Gospel is that Jesus is God and Jesus was present at the creation of the earth, and that Jesus is also of the earth. This mysterious puzzle is called the Incarnation – when translated means made of meat – like carne in Spanish. Jesus is flesh like us and still 100% God. There are two main themes in the Gospel according to John. These are Jesus’ relationship to the Father and Jesus’ relationship to the world and the believers. So to sum up the first theme as best I can – in John’s gospel, Jesus is the creative word and reason of God and becomes human flesh to bring enlightenment to human beings and to save us humans from the darkness that surrounds us.
Now when I read the section of the gospel that sounds like the beginning of Genesis I left out a chunk in the middle. And that part goes like this: “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.” John the Baptist shows up here in the middle of Jesus’ big moment – why? Last month we talked about how John the Baptist is portrayed in Luke’s gospel as the last of the prophets in the style of the Old Testament. He ends the religious chapter of the rule of law, the law given by God to Moses, and begins the rule of salvation, or grace and truth, through Jesus Christ. The author of John compares the giving of the law from God to Moses and the giving of truth and grace to people from Jesus. Jesus as human being brings a new creativity and beginning to the world – which we call enlightenment. I talked about how we must prepare ourselves for the great change that the birth of Jesus represents, a change of earthquake proportions. This is where John the Baptist comes in – he testifies to the light of Christ – he testifies that Jesus existed before the beginning of time as we know it – and he witnesses to all of this so all might believe through his testimony. And this is important because in order to know God, to receive the grace and truth of Jesus, and to become God’s children and heirs to the Kingdom, we must believe that Jesus is God himself infleshed – in human form. So to sum up the second theme – it isn’t enough to see the light, to believe that Jesus is God in the flesh and become one with God and Jesus as part of the light; we also must share the light with other people. Last Thursday night, New Year’s Eve, I joined other folks here at St. George’s in rings of light as we walked the labyrinth outside and a canvas labyrinth laid out in the parish hall. Jane and Craig, as our hosts, lit candles all around and through the labyrinths, bathing them and the people walking in silence through the night in soft and intense points of light. For me it was the perfect end to the Christmas season. We walked together in the light and we shared it with newcomers – even some young men who “heard” about the labyrinth walk and saw the pinpoints of light in the darkness came to see what it was all about. Jane was able to explain to them about the labyrinths and invite them to come any Sunday and join us. She testified to the light that shines here at St. George’s.
I can’t remember where I got the idea, but a number of years ago when I taught Jr. High Sunday School at St. Michael’s, I had each young person read the portion of the gospel we read today about testifying to the light. In place of John the Baptist’s name I had them say their own name – and by the time they had each read I had tears running down my face. It became so personal and real for me, that they were messengers of the light, too. And that it was my job to hand off the light to them. They were polite enough not to mention that I was crying, and it was a moving moment for me. Each of us is sent from God to testify to the light that is Jesus Christ.
Let’s try and see how that sounds now – and I’ll try not to cry this time. Let me start with Amber.
“There was a woman sent from God, whose name was Amber. She came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through her. She himself was not the light, but she came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.”
“There was a woman sent from God, whose name was Jane. She came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through her. 8She himself was not the light, but she came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.”
“There was a man sent from God, whose name was Craig or Jim or Bill or Dave or Arthur or Dennis. They came as witnesses to testify to the light, so that all might believe through them. They themselves were not the light, but they came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.”
“There were people sent from God, and they were called St. George’s Episcopal Church in Antioch, California. They came as witnesses to testify to the light, so that all might believe through them. They themselves were not the light, but they came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.” Let it be so!
Amen.
