This is John\u2019s Christmas. This is incarnation. No shepherds, no angels, no cr\u00e8che, no Magi. John\u2019s story is so utterly unlike the familiar cr\u00e8che or pageant. How on earth could one make this, John\u2019s story of the incarnation, into a pageant? It begins before time itself!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Note the opening words: \u201cIn the beginning\u2026\u201d The first to hear or read John\u2019s Gospel had heard these words before. We all have. The entire Bible begins with these words, \u201cIn the beginning, God created\u2026\u201d Jesus\u2019 origins are cosmic \u2013 at the very root of the universe, \u201call that is, seen and unseen.\u201d And we now know that fully 95% of the created universe is unseen: dark matter and dark energy. Only 5% is anything at all like us, and animals and rocks and trees and stars and planets. God\u2019s creation is mostly unseen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
John puts Jesus, the Word, the logos<\/em>, present before anything was made. Before God said the word, \u201cLight!\u201d and there was light! God speaks and things come into being. Before God speaks, however, there was the \u201cWord.\u201d In Greek that is logos<\/em> \u2013 word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But for Jews and Gentiles alike in the first century, this word logos<\/em> meant more than what we think when we say \u201cword.\u201d For at least six centuries before Christ came into the world, logos<\/em> had currency among philosophers, and meant something like the principle of reason that rules the universe. Logos<\/em> could also describe the Hebrew idea of wisdom \u2013 hokma<\/em> in Hebrew, sophia <\/em>in Greek. According to the rabbis, wisdom was responsible for creation. So universal is this Word, this logos,<\/em> that it is in everything that has been created. There is nothing \u201cmade that was made\u201d that is not made through this Word. This is why we promise in our Baptism to \u201cseek and serve Christ in all persons.\u201d Christ as logos<\/em> is in all persons and in all things. Thus, our need to care for the Earth and everyone and everything therein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Word, says John, is life. And this life is light \u2013 the light of the world. This light is a beacon that shines and cuts through all darkness \u2013 and darkness does not overcome this light. That is, there is evil, not just in people but in all the created order. Our redemption in and by the Word \u2013 the logos<\/em> \u2013 is a vital part of a larger project \u2013 the redemption of the entire universe of God\u2019s creation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet, we who come from this Word, this logos, <\/em>do not readily recognize him. He comes to those of us who claim his name as our own \u2013 Christian \u2013 and yet we know him not. This continues to be a problem. Just look around us. Two thousand years of claiming his name as our own, and just how brilliantly does the world around us reflect this life-giving light? In a world of ongoing brutalities \u2013 torture, killings, mass shootings, capital murder as retribution, bombings, not to mention hunger, loneliness, hatred, bigotry, poverty, and rejection of strangers. We are promised that all who do receive him, accept him, follow him, are given power<\/em> \u2013 power to become \u201cchildren of God.\u201d We say we receive, accept, and follow Jesus the Word, but is this at all reflected in all that we do or say? Or, in all that is done or said on our behalf by others who claim to know, receive, accept, and follow this Word?<\/p>\n\n\n\n It makes it all the more remarkable that this Word becomes flesh and blood and moves into the neighborhood. The text literally says he \u201ctabernacled among us.\u201d That is, he pitched his tent; this Word, this logos<\/em>, set up shop right in our midst despite our not knowing him. We are meant, of course, to recall that other time in our tradition\u2019s past when God tabernacled among us in the tent of meeting in the wilderness \u2013 that place where \u201cthe glory of the Lord filled the tent.\u201d Again, we behold his glory!<\/p>\n\n\n\n For John, this is Christmas. The Word of God comes and pitches his tent to sojourn with us, giving us another chance to know, accept, and follow him. We behold his glory. He adopts us as his own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A story is told about some Navy SEALs sent to free a group of hostages in one of the corners of the world. As they storm into the hiding place, they find the hostages huddled on the floor in a corner of the room. The SEALs tell them they are there to take them home. Get up and follow us. No one moves. They are so damaged by the experience of their captivity that they do not believe these are really people sent to set them free. So, one of these SEALs does something: he takes off his helmet, puts down his gun, gets down on the floor, softens his face, and huddles up next to the captives, putting his arms around a few of them. No guards would do this. He whispers, \u201cWe are like you. We are here to be with you and to rescue you. Let us take you home. Will you follow us?\u201d One by one, the prisoners get up and are eventually taken to safety on an aircraft carrier and brought home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lots of rhetoric and ink have been spilled to explain the miracle of the incarnation \u2013 how it is God becomes one of us to take us home \u2013 to redeem us as a step in redeeming a broken world and broken universe. God sees us captive to many things, unwilling to simply step away from those things that keep us in prison \u2013 often prisons of our own making. In Jesus, God takes off all his glory, gets down on the floor with us, huddles up with us \u2013 tabernacles among us, pitches his tent among us \u2013 and whispers, \u201cIt is OK. I am with you. I am one of you now. Come with me, follow me, and I will take you home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n John tells us that the essence of Christmas does not need a cr\u00e8che, does not need shepherds, does not need angels, or greens, or red bows, or piles of gifts, or carols, or turkeys and roast beefs with all the trimmings. All Christmas needs is for us to know the Word. To accept the Word. To get up and follow the Word. There is no way we can ever know all there is to know about God \u2013 but in Christ,<\/em> the Word, we can see his light and the logos<\/em>. He will lead us home. This is incarnation. This is Christmas. It is time now, writes Howard Thurman, for the work of Christmas to begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Work of Christmas<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n When the song of the angels is stilled, To find the lost, Howard Thurman, The Mood of Christmas & Other Celebrations<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This sermon was written by the Rev. Kirk Alan Kubicek<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is John\u2019s Christmas. This is incarnation. No shepherds, no angels, no cr\u00e8che, no Magi. John\u2019s story is so utterly unlike the familiar cr\u00e8che or pageant. How on earth could one make this, John\u2019s story of the incarnation, into a pageant? It begins before time itself! Note the opening words: \u201cIn the beginning\u2026\u201d The first…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":201212,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[16,43,52,3],"tags":[190],"class_list":["post-512315","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christmas","category-sermons","category-sermons-that-work","category-worship-and-prayer-menu","tag-christmas-day-iii"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":16,"label":"Christmas"},{"value":43,"label":"Sermons"},{"value":52,"label":"Sermons That Work"},{"value":3,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":190,"label":"Christmas Day III"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/512315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/sermon"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/512315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3478597,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/512315\/revisions\/3478597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nWhen the star in the sky is gone,
\nWhen the kings and princes are home,
\nWhen the shepherds are back with their flock,
\nThe work of Christmas begins:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nTo heal the broken,
\nTo feed the hungry,
\nTo release the prisoner,
\nTo rebuild the nations,
\nTo bring peace among people,
\nTo make music in the heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n