Are We Living Into The Light Of The Word Made Flesh?
Good Morning Friends,
Yesterday was World Communion Sunday. And a friend of mine after the service by the name of John asked if I could write about the topic of the Word made Flesh that is addressed so creatively in the Book of John. In response I said yes and linked the topic in my mind to name of God, and the breath of God that helps us to convey the will of God when we take and eat but also hopefully speak and sing. It is caught up in the power of words that spark insight in us to not just tell how God is part of our story but more importantly how words of humble service share how we have become part of the larger story of God. To give focus and voice to the topic I pinhole an example of our challenge of choosing the right words to love a stranger and explore what words we may share with someone with whom we would not recognize as like us. The problem is that we offer privilege to some and not to others. But sometimes we are compelled to act, and it not seem completely rational. Take the example of a child drowning in the rough surf and you are the only one around to see the event. Do you risk your own life saving that one child that you do not even know and perhaps one with whom you might consider… not one of us? The problem is a bit perplexing for many of us would jump in without a second thought and yet when it comes to similar potential negative outcomes in the lives of others, do to economics and access we might well turn a blind eye. We forget Jesus’ prayer in John 17 that we be as one. We hide behind a veil of plausible deniability, but our alibies are lies. So, I wonder this morning if we are making as much progress as we would like to claim.
Friends, reality is mostly made up of what we cannot see and so we ask about what we might hear: Are We Living Into The Light Of The Word Made Flesh?
Scripture: 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.
Genesis 1:1-3 (NRSV)
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.
John 1:1-4 (NRSV)
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
John 8:12 (NRSV)
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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.
John 1:14 (NRSV)
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Psalm 119:105 (NRSV)
“I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. “Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
John 17:20-26 (NRSV)
Message: It has been said that early to bed and early to rise makes a person healthy, wealthy and wise. And perhaps that is true for one spends more time in the light. And that I think makes us happier. As I mature, I tend to live more in that way. Along this line of thinking today’s scripture seems to be saying that we should give up the darkness of our emotional baggage…to sin less and love more if we are to become the Christians that Jesus would have us to be. And one cannot really argue with that at all as we count the cost of engagement and determine the direction of our lives guided by the lamp of scripture. And as we evaluate how to jettison our dark garbage, we may just want to also ask today’s question. For today we explore things that lighten our load for the journey with Jesus and help light the path in our own spiritual development…the light of love through a creative word of love.
And it comes to my mind that when Jesus walked the earth it was not particularly safe to walk around at night but that it might just be a bit safer if others knew you had given away all your possessions and if one had a lamp on loan to light one’s path. I would think that part of the way to light the path is to make wise decisions and to read scripture to better experience the Word made flesh in Christ. But our decisions need to be exposed to a process that counts the cost and then decides, with some degree of illumination of what it will take to pay that price to have the desired result. Sometimes the decision-making process helps us to see the risks involved. Still, when it comes to love we must step out as an act of faith empowered by grace where the most powerful word is one not spoken but born into us. The light of the word of Christ literally needs to be turned on as a protection here. We need to be freed of the darkness of life and recognize our debt to Christ. And in this lighter, transformed life we are to focus on a devotion to God that comes out of a heart lightened by love where things are really turned around. We avoid the darkness of the world by embracing a lifestyle of light that expands the circle of love. Ultimately becoming creatures of the light of Christ is the only safe path for then we walk in the footstep of scripture incarnate.
And So, we are all strangers in a strange land that God makes saner by coming to be one of us in the hope that we might share a story of hospitality with others. Here the Word made flesh is about Jesus being 100% God and 100% human, but it is also about the story of God in the words of God revealed in our own stories of faith shared. It is about us joining in the story of God with a kind word to another person. The Word here is the means whereby God makes divine will know to humanity. Words that reveal and spark insight for a holy purpose. It is something to not only see but more importantly hear. It is essentially a title of Christ and manifests itself in sermons that glorify the Holy Spirit but also a kind word shared to someone we do not yet know. Consider it verbal hospitality that brings light to the subject of life and love. Now science may be able to answer more questions about light than it can about love. For science cannot tell us what a tear means for another person or what laughter to a joke means for a person who did not get it or why Jesus was willing to die for us. Extending love is not only a great challenge of life, but also a great mystery. But this is exactly what God does in sending
Jesus to be one of us that reverberates throughout all history and even creation itself. Friends, the magnitude of God’s love for us may never be fully comprehended even if we experience it. But, for me the Word made flesh in Christ means that we have been given through Christ a new revelation that allows us to join the greater story. Here we are to share a word that helps us to identify Jesus’ status and function in the Gospel. Here the Word made flesh is about how God has spoken to humans about the plan and purpose for us all and how we join the story through the word and actions we share so that we might be united in the love of Christ as part of a new creation.
Pray we embrace the art of spiritual reading and living through the words we share. Pray
we are enlightened by how the Bible weaves scripture together to reveal the character of God.
Pray
we love in a way that matters even though we do not completely understand it. Pray the weights of the world be removed from our dark life. Pray we make wise decisions in the words we share. Pray we see the possibilities of being part of God’s story. Pray we count the costs but risk to love anyway. Pray we realize that there are eternal consequences to the development of our souls. Pray
we have an appreciation of Christ’s love and action in the world. Pray we share the blessings we have received. Pray we meet people where they are with compassion. Pray we realize that we have been freed to love everyone in the way the God loves. Pray we enjoy a full life of salvation and spiritual transformation that helps us to become creatures of the light. Pray therefor that we be people of love that speak the truth.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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