Jeremiah 31: 7-14 Ephesians 1: 3-14 John 1 [1-9] 10-18The reading in today’s gospel is one of the most important and most thought-provoking passages in the whole of the Bible. We are being given the most in depth description of God. If we go back to the first verse of the Bible in Genesis we read, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth". The Word was not in the list of things created at the very start. The Word was there right at the beginning. The Word is eternal.This is a difficult concept to grasp at times. Essentially what it means is that Jesus was always like God. The Word was with God before all of creation and a part of everything.Here in the beginning of John’s gospel we are being treated to a lesson, a learning experience. In the days of the Old Testament our knowledge of God was based on life as it was then. We read of whole cities being wiped out, of the anger and jealousy of God. This is what life was like then, very tribal, a fight for existence and possessions. People knew no better. Jesus had not yet appeared to open our eyes. Reading the Old Testament we are reading of the growth of people through time. In the beginning God’s nature was understood in terms of the development reached. It was when Jesus came among us that people began to see fully and completely what God has always been like.Here in John we are being told how Jesus has always been with God. He has been so much at one with God. God has hidden nothing from him. Therefore, Jesus is the only person who can reveal to us what God is like. How God feels towards us.When John said the Word was God he was not saying that Jesus was identical with God; he was saying that Jesus was so perfectly the same as God in mind, in heart, in being that in him we perfectly see what God is like.John now takes us through creation. We believe that this is God’s world. Going back in time to the Creation, the Big Bang, or whatever you think may have happened, it was not created from matter. It is our belief that behind everything there is God, nothing else. All that exists is from God, and in it God is intimately involved.In the Word there is life John claims. In Jesus we have security in life, and in the life to come. It is by accepting Jesus as our saviour, as by placing him as our king we learn how to live. If we do not accept Jesus then it can be argued that we do not live at all. Jesus is the one person who can make life fulfilling. Jesus is like a light shining in the world. He is a light which is enlightening us that we can see truly.Having Jesus as a light in our life is a guide. If we do not have that light within us we are walking in darkness and we all know what happens if you walk along a country lane in the darkness. Each side of us a ditch waiting for us to fall in. Before us is a wall or hedge waiting for us to walk into. A light is needed to guide our steps along the true path. Jesus is that light. We invite him into our heart to be our guide, to keep us free from sin, free from straying off the safe path. A sinful person loves the darkness because light shows up too many things.We have just witnessed to the birth of Jesus. Here we can see in him God. In him the world is lit up before us. We can see our way around. In the weeks and months to come we will learn for ourselves about God. Jesus will be our teacher. He will be our guide. He will direct our footsteps.Collect for the Second Sunday of ChristmasAlmighty God,in the birth of your Sonyou have poured on us the new light of your incarnate Word,and shown us the fullness of your love:help us to walk in his light and dwell in his lovethat we may know the fullness of his joy;who is alive and reigns with you,in the unity of the Holy Spirit,one God, now and for ever.
Jeremiah 31: 7-14 Ephesians 1: 3-14 John 1 [1-9] 10-18The reading in today’s gospel is one of the most important and most thought-provoking passages in the whole of the Bible. We are being given the most in depth description of God. If we go back to the first verse of the Bible in Genesis we read, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth". The Word was not in the list of things created at the very start. The Word was there right at the beginning. The Word is eternal.This is a difficult concept to grasp at times. Essentially what it means is that Jesus was always like God. The Word was with God before all of creation and a part of everything.Here in the beginning of John’s gospel we are being treated to a lesson, a learning experience. In the days of the Old Testament our knowledge of God was based on life as it was then. We read of whole cities being wiped out, of the anger and jealousy of God. This is what life was like then, very tribal, a fight for existence and possessions. People knew no better. Jesus had not yet appeared to open our eyes. Reading the Old Testament we are reading of the growth of people through time. In the beginning God’s nature was understood in terms of the development reached. It was when Jesus came among us that people began to see fully and completely what God has always been like.Here in John we are being told how Jesus has always been with God. He has been so much at one with God. God has hidden nothing from him. Therefore, Jesus is the only person who can reveal to us what God is like. How God feels towards us.When John said the Word was God he was not saying that Jesus was identical with God; he was saying that Jesus was so perfectly the same as God in mind, in heart, in being that in him we perfectly see what God is like.John now takes us through creation. We believe that this is God’s world. Going back in time to the Creation, the Big Bang, or whatever you think may have happened, it was not created from matter. It is our belief that behind everything there is God, nothing else. All that exists is from God, and in it God is intimately involved.In the Word there is life John claims. In Jesus we have security in life, and in the life to come. It is by accepting Jesus as our saviour, as by placing him as our king we learn how to live. If we do not accept Jesus then it can be argued that we do not live at all. Jesus is the one person who can make life fulfilling. Jesus is like a light shining in the world. He is a light which is enlightening us that we can see truly.Having Jesus as a light in our life is a guide. If we do not have that light within us we are walking in darkness and we all know what happens if you walk along a country lane in the darkness. Each side of us a ditch waiting for us to fall in. Before us is a wall or hedge waiting for us to walk into. A light is needed to guide our steps along the true path. Jesus is that light. We invite him into our heart to be our guide, to keep us free from sin, free from straying off the safe path. A sinful person loves the darkness because light shows up too many things.We have just witnessed to the birth of Jesus. Here we can see in him God. In him the world is lit up before us. We can see our way around. In the weeks and months to come we will learn for ourselves about God. Jesus will be our teacher. He will be our guide. He will direct our footsteps.Collect for the Second Sunday of ChristmasAlmighty God,in the birth of your Sonyou have poured on us the new light of your incarnate Word,and shown us the fullness of your love:help us to walk in his light and dwell in his lovethat we may know the fullness of his joy;who is alive and reigns with you,in the unity of the Holy Spirit,one God, now and for ever.
Christmas DayIsaiah 52.7–10 Hebrews 1.1–4 [5–12] John 1.1–14Welcome to your Christmas Communion. We are gathered together to welcome the Christ child into this world. All those years ago that welcome was done by just two or three people as, in the traditional story, a few shepherds came to greet the child, and later some wise men also visited bringing gifts.Today it is us doing the welcoming. We may not be bringing camels loaded with gold and frankincense and myrrh. The camels we changed for Nissan or Skoda, or whatever. But we do bring gifts.We might struggle to find myrrh in the local shop. It was a resin used throughout history in medicine, perfumery, and incenses. Myrrh mixed with wine was widely used in many ancient cultures to produce pleasurable feelings and as an anti-inflammatory and analgesic. Today we give a quick squirt from a bottle of Chanel Number Five to produce a highly expensive aroma as we walk past. Correction, as you walk past. But it is used in a similar way, to give a pleasurable aroma.Similarly, to find a quantity of Frankincense could be a problem. In days of old it could be found making its way, on the back of camels, travelling along the well-known Silk Road in the Middle East. Again, it is used for its medicinal qualities in addition to its aromatic value.Now we come to the gold. I am not aware of any local gold mines, or of any streams nearby worth spending time and effort in panning. But, as before with the Myrrh and the Frankincense being used to create an acceptable aroma in a palace, a scent which hits you as you enter and brings to mind the sense of royalty would be befitting at the place of the entry of the Son of God into the world. The gold would be showing the wealth, the kingly wealth of any ruler.Here we are in church. The Advent bleakness has been cast to one side as we fill the dark corners with flowers spreading their colour to dispel the gloom. There is brightness and light as befits any palace. Some churches will be using incense to fill the church with the aroma of frankincense. The church will be made a place ideally suitable for the Son of God to enter.That has looked after the external material side of the world. But what of the internal part of our life. We have travelled through Advent preparing ourselves to receive Jesus. Are we ready? Have we the equivalent of flowers bursting into colour in the darkest places in our soul? Have we the equivalent of the aromatic spices preparing ourselves to receive the Lord?Today, we are celebrating the birth of Jesus. Around the world bells are ringing, lights are glowing, people are celebrating. The Son of God has come to be with us, to teach us about God his Father, about his heavenly kingdom. To show, by example, how to relate to our neighbour. To love them and to love the Lord God.This Christmastide let us welcome the Lord Jesus into the world, into our hearts, and receive him with joyfulness. May he be received the world over with people listening to his message and resolving to act upon it day by day.Gill and I wish you a very Merry Christmas.Collect for Christmas DayAlmighty God,you have given us your only-begotten Sonto take our nature upon himand as at this time to be born of a pure virgin:grant that we, who have been born againand made your children by adoption and grace,may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit;through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,who is alive and reigns with you,in the unity of the Holy Spirit,one God, now and for ever.
Fourth Sunday of AdventIsaiah 7.10-16 Romans 1.1-7 Matthew 1: 18 - endMany years ago I went on an outing to The Netherlands. One of the treats was a visit to the Reichs Museum. At that time I was not really interested in art. Portraits all looked the same and landscapes just pictures of fields and trees. Art had little meaning to me.We were met at the door by our guide. His opening words were that ‘after this visit you will never look at art in the same way again’. He then proceeded to lead us through, gallery after gallery, explaining what the pictures were telling, the story behind their composition, and what we could learn from them. He was right in what he said. I now look at art in totally new ways. My eyes have been opened.From flags on ships flying in the wrong direction to people in paintings who could not have been there, and from bowls of exotic fruit on tables in early houses to salmon on the plates of the poorest of people. I could go on. Sufficient to say that I was taught how to look at art.We are now just days away from celebrating the birth of Jesus. What was being expected of him? Prophets had claimed that someone special was to arrive. Circumstances and signs were just right and pointed to Jesus as the one expected. In this child much was being anticipated.The birth of Jesus was the work of the Holy Spirit. “Mary was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit”. In the birth of Jesus the Holy Spirit of God was very much at work. The Holy Spirit had been very much at work up to now. It was the Holy Spirit which brought God’s truth to us, who taught the prophets what to say, who told them what to do. Who told Joseph about the coming birth.With the birth of Jesus our eyes are opened as to what God is like. We see in him what we ought to be like. Before Jesus we only had vague ideas and they were often wrong. They were the product of our best guesses. Now our eyes were to be opened. As Jesus grew we could see in him love being poured out to many, compassion to the poor and needy, to those who were exiled. We could see mercy and the purity of God. In Jesus truth was being given to us. Obedience to the will of God. We learnt the truth of God.Coming to welcome the birth of Jesus. Being with him side by side as he grew. Learning from what he taught. These are the museum moments that I experienced. They are the same moments that we all can experience. Walking through the galleries is likened to walking through our life. At times we encounter different circumstances. When those events are explained to us our understanding grows. We are better prepared as we move through life.As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus and as we are making way to allow him into our hearts, these will enable us to see things as they truly are. As the guide at the museum explained the hidden depths of the paintings, Jesus will reveal to us the hidden depths of God. Life is quite different when Jesus teaches us how to look at things. When Jesus comes into our hearts, he opens our eyes to see things truly.Collect for the Fourth Sunday of AdventGod our redeemer,who prepared the Blessed Virgin Maryto be the mother of your Son:grant that, as she looked for his coming as our saviour,so we may be ready to greet himwhen he comes again as our judge;who is alive and reigns with you,in the unity of the Holy Spirit,one God, now and for ever.
