First Sunday After Christmas: The Light of God Coming Among Us

John 1:1-18 (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. 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.

Vicki K. Black in Welcome to the Church Year: An Introduction to the Seasons of the Episcopal Church writes:

The Incarnation is absolutely central to the Christian faith.  And yet at some level it must remain a mystery, and at Christmas it is often celebrated through the images and language of the poet rather than the theologian.  The words to a Christian hymn written a few decades before the council at Chalcedon make much the same point, beautifully conveying the intersection of time and eternity, Godhead and humanity, in the birth and life of Jesus:

Of the Father's love begotten, ere the worlds began to be,
he is Alpha and Omega, he the source, the ending he,
of the things that are, that have been, and that future years shall see,
evermore and evermore!

O that birth for ever blessed, when the Virgin, full of grace,
by the Holy Ghost conceiving, bore the Savior of our race;
and the Babe, the world's Redeemer, first revealed his sacred face,
evermore and evermore! (Page 30)  (Hymn # 82, Hymnal 1982).

All of us know the experience of walking into a dark room.  What ever we may be looking for in such a space, we cannot see it in the open because there is nothing to show us precisely where it is nor how to get to it.  Even with our best memory, we can still forget and not see where what we are looking for might have been moved to.   Once the light has been put on we can see more clearly the path to what it is we are looking for.  All of the obstacles along the way to what we are looking for shows and we can make a safe journey.

The one thing that most of us cannot see very clearly without some kind of help from God, is ourselves.  Okay, most of us can look into a mirror and see the gray streaks growing in or whether or not we have combed our hair.  We also know all of those emotions and desires deep within us. The one thing that sin does is it blinds us to the reality of the beauty that God has created within each of us.  In this time of dysfunctional family relationships and the presence of racism, sexism, heterosexism and religious imperialism, the idea that if you are wealthy, healthy, etc you have a beauty that is given you by God.  Yet, if you are so unfortunate to be none of the above, there are plenty of individuals in society and even the Church who are there to tell you either directly or indirectly what they think of you.

When Jesus took on the humanity of all of us, God restored and continues to restore the goodness of God's created beauty in each of us.  A woman who sang in one of the choirs I once directed used to say: "There are many beautiful colors in God's garden."  Each one of us has a certain eloquence and magnificence that has been given to us, that makes us all so wonderfully unique.  Yet, we would not be able to see that clearly without the Light of God in Christ having come to us to call each and every one of us to be restored and redeemed by God's compassion and generous grace.  If only we could all take some time to learn to see ourselves as God's masterpiece, then we would not be so quick to assign a level of darkness to others through our words and actions.

Jesus Christ did not come among us through the womb of the Virgin Mary to give to Christians the power and reason to scapegoat one group of people against another.  God's perfect revelation came to reveal God's truth, not make Christianity a monopoly on truth.  The change that was brought through the mystery of the Incarnation was the establishment of God's reign where all of God's people are beautiful, loved and forgiven.  The poor would know the wealth of God's extravagant love.  Those presumed weak would know the strength of a God who made them and through Christ redeems them as God's beloved, with whom God is well-pleased.   Sexual orientation, gender, gender identity/expression, race, religion, wealth, social status or any other classification was to no longer be barriers for one group of people to dominate another.  Even the poor and those who have died now have a face and a name.

In Speaking to the Soul today we read:

In this day of pardoning let us not exact trespasses! In this day of gladnesses let us not spread sadnesses! In this day so sweet, let us not be harsh! In this day of peaceful rest, let us not be wrathful in it! In this day when God came to sinners, let not the righteous be in his mind uplifted over sinner! In this day in which there came the Lord of all unto the servants, let masters too condescend to their servants lovingly! In this day in which the Rich became poor for our sakes, let the rich man make the poor man share with him at his table.

On this day to us came forth the Gift, although we asked it not! Let us therefore bestow alms on them that cry and beg of us. This is the day that opened for us a gate on high to our prayers. Let us open also gates to supplicants that have transgressed, and of us have asked [forgiveness.]

To-day the Lord of nature was against His nature changed; let it not to us be irksome to turn our evil wills. Fixed in nature is the body; great or less it cannot become: but the will has such dominion, it can grow to any measure.

To-day Godhead sealed itself upon Manhood, that so with the Godhead’s stamp Manhood might be adorned.

From Hymn 1 of Nineteen Hymns on the Nativity of Christ in the Flesh by Ephraim Syrus, translated by J. B. Morris, M.A. (Oxford Library of the Fathers); found at http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf213.iii.v.ii.html

As we continue through the Christmas Season, may we all see the Light of Christ that has been shown in and through all of us.  May we see ourselves as part of God's beautiful creation.  In Christ, God has redeemed us by God's unconditional and all-inclusive love.  May we also remember in our prayers those who continue to live under oppression.  Whether that oppression be self imposed or by religious, social and political means outside of their control.  May the Light of Christ who's birth we celebrate this Christmas Season, help us all to see past the darkness of prejudice, violence and bitterness.  May that Light help us to see what is in our own hearts and be open to the power of God's transforming grace. What the Incarnation shows us about God is still a great mystery.  But what God shows us about humanity is that we do have the ability to change our hearts, lives and world if only we can know God's precious love in our own hearts.  Once we know that love, we can share it openly and freely.  Because God will have begun the work of transforming us and the world around us.  There would be no more scapegoating.  No more of denying basic human rights and opportunities to the poor, helpless and marginalized among us.  Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and queer people can be free to be who we are, love who we love and find a world that welcomes and affirms us, because God in Christ has loved, redeemed and given new life and grace to us all.

Almighty God, you have poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word: Grant that this light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the First Sunday After Christmas, Book of Common Prayer, page 213).