Good Morning Friends,
I do so like the way John elaborates the reason for the season we are celebrating, and the way Isaiah foretells this hope for humanity. We have inherited some wonderful traditions that magnify the grace of God in the retelling of the stories of Christmas’ past combined with our future to come. Still, it is appropriate to ask on this 4th Sunday in Advent that is also Christmas Eve Day, about what we are experiencing now.
So, What Is The Spirit Revealing To You This Christmas?
Scripture: 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. 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. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. 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 testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.'”) 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.
John 1:1-18 (NRSV)
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness — on them light has shined. You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder. For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire. For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
Isaiah 9:2-7 (NRSV)
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices, together they sing for joy; for in plain sight they see the return of the Lord to Zion. Break forth together into singing, you ruins of Jerusalem; for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
Isaiah 52:7-10 (NRSV)
Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son”? And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.”
Hebrews 1:1-6 (NRSV)
Message: Isaiah’s scripture prophecies of a plan of peace to an estranged world. It refers to the time before the Messiah had come, a time when the people were living in darkness and needed help in getting out of its emptiness. They did not need an empty and systematic way of understanding their feelings. They needed a peace that passes understanding. They needed, as we need today, the Prince of Peace. So today we search for identity, meaning and Truth in our culture’s practice of celebrating Christ’s birth. Matthew and Luke share the circumstances leading up to the birth of Jesus foretold in Isaiah. But the book of John does not deal with the historical events, nor the traditions we have added to the experience of the event of Christ coming to live with us. John is different. He launches directly into the message… The message is that God has given us an incredible gift…that by faith, in Christ, we can become children of God, born neither of natural descent, nor of human decision or will of man, but born of God. The message is that when we accept Christ, we are ushered into the reality that we are part of Christ’s family. Permission to join in the heavenly celebration has been given. So today we celebrate the infinite becoming an infant. Today we realize that Jesus got his start way before He was born. Today as you listen to the scripture let it unwrap the word of God in each of us. On this Christmas somehow let the incomprehensible God become intelligible, somehow let all the preparation bring meaning into this celebration of the arrival of Jesus…into the storms of our lives… into the eye of our hearts… into the hurricane party of Christmas.
And So, the preparation is over. For the last weeks we have been preparing for Christmas as if we were preparing for a hurricane. We spent time fixing up the outside of our house. We dragged out boxes from the attic. Some people did last minute shopping in stores. We put up Christmas trees. We watched special programming on television. We were surrounded by family. We contacted our relatives. We bought more food than normally. We took days off from our regular schedules and wrapped presents and played and sang Christmas Carols and will worship this morning as well as tonight. But now the preparation is over. It is time to accept the incredible power and experience of God through a relationship with Jesus. And the Gospel of John points to this unique identity designed from the beginning to bring us salvation. In the Gospel reading today we are sharing seven truths about the Word made flesh to guide us in the experience of Christmas. Friends, when there was nothing in the entire universe, the Word was there. Christ was there as the power that fulfills God’s purposes and is the power of a distinct personal being, who stands in an eternal relation to God in active fellowship. And this Word was and is God who created all things but especially life itself so that there is no life apart from God the Word made flesh. And the Word not only gives life, but light too, enabling us to experience the truth of God in a relationship with our creator through Jesus. And here is where the Gospel comes alive in the connection between the Word and a baby born in Bethlehem. John, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, tells us that God came to live not just with us but in us. That little baby born to Mary in the stable is the Word made flesh to dwell with and in us! Rejoice because Jesus has moved into the neighborhood.
Pray this Christmas that we dwell in the center of the divine grace of God the Father. Pray that God has prepared our hearts for the coming of Jesus. Pray that we realize our greatest need is the love of forgiveness. Pray that God makes Himself fully known to us in the person of Jesus Christ. Pray that the hurricanes of our lives diminish. Pray when we are offered light, we accept it. Pray when we are offered peace, we embrace it. Pray we remember Christmas’ past in hope of an even better future. Pray we see the light and remember our purpose. Pray we are victorious. Pray we find Peace in our hearts. Pray Christ fill Christmas Day with the Holy Spirit. Pray this Christmas that we experience the birth of Jesus as something eternal, that affirms a personal relationship with the divine and creates in us a life that is invigorated in the Word. Pray the Word enables us to believe the truth about ourselves, our world, but especially about our need for a relationship with our Creator to guide us by the light of his Truth into a right relationship with God and others in a love that lasts.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 