The Word Made Flesh

Scripture: John 1:1-18

Admittedly, John’s Gospel is one of my favorite gospels. Probably because it is littered with imagery and symbolism. While other gospels, like Matthew and Luke, may open with genealogies and the nativity story, or Mark opens right up with Jesus’ baptism – John’s Gospel is more cosmic and sweeping. It takes us back to those first words of Genesis – in the beginning – and reminds us that what God is doing involves the whole of creation. That this is the God who speaks life in the midst of darkness.

That the God we are about to hear about is the same God whose Word brought everything into existence.

If you remember back to Genesis – God’s creative acts were always prefaced by, “And God said…” and God has continued to speak ever since. He has continued to speak into our world. He has continued to speak into our lives.

From the very beginning, God’s relationship with humanity has been centered around communication.

So the question of course that Genesis raises is: what happens when that life-giving communication between the creation and the divine breaks down?
If you think about it – the vast majority of all relationship problems are about communication. There are misunderstandings, unintended meanings… we just don’t communicate well with each other much of the time because we have many selfish things that drive what we are hearing and what we are saying.

Our relationship with God isn’t much different. It’s just as broken. It’s just as misunderstood.

But communication is also the way in which we build relationship. It’s the way in which we are able to mend relationships as much as it breaks them.

O Come, O Come Immanuel

Scripture: Daniel 3

Now I have to admit – the first time I saw this story was what was scheduled to be our first week of Advent text, my reaction was… “huh?” How on earth does the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego being thrown in the fiery furnace have ANYTHING to do with the first week of Advent? I mean – I guess they both involve fire.

Then I realized it might be helpful to recognize the context of the book of Daniel. As we’ve been going through this Narrative Lectionary, we’ve been following the trials and tribulations of the people of God. Last week, Pastor Meg talked about the Prophet Jeremiah, who was one of the prophets who was alive during the time of the destruction of the Kingdom of Judah by the Babylonian Empire and were taken away as exiles into Babylon.

Daniel is a book that takes a look at what happened during their time in Exile – in fact, many scholars believe it was the last book of the Old Testament to be written – and they believe it was written as a book of hope that looked back at their time in Babylonian exile while living under the oppression of what was known as the Seleucid Empire – which was about 100 years before Jesus’ birth.

A book that addresses issues of faith in the midst of oppression and difficult circumstances. Faith in a time when it seemed God wasn’t really listening to His people. It’s a book that deals with issues of hope in the midst of despair. Hope in the midst of oppression. Hope in the midst of exile.