Christmas 1, Year C, 2024
Isaiah 61:10 – 62:3; I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;
Psalm 147: How good it is to sing praises to our God!
Galatians 3:23-25, 4:4-7; we are no longer slaves, but children and heirs;
John 1:1-18; In the beginning was the Word;
I recently read “The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store” by James McBride. It is the story of a diverse community in Pottstown, PA in the 1920’s and 1930’s. The neighborhood is called Chicken Hill and is mostly Black and Jewish. The story centers around the Jewish couple, Moshe and Chona, who own the grocery store and a local theatre. Chona runs the store which serves everyone in the neighborhood, regardless of race or religion. In the story Chona has a memory of walking hand in hand as a child, with her father, and reciting the Bar’ukh She’amar. It is a common prayer in Jewish Liturgy: translated as “Blessed be the one who spoke the world into being”. It is a phrase that refers to God, specifically praising the act of creation where, simply by God’s spoken word, the universe was brought into existence.
The phrase directly aligns with Psalm 33:9, which says “For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.” That verse in Psalm 33 is a summary of the first chapter of the Genesis creation account. Repeatedly in that chapter, is the formula, “And God said, . . . and it was so.” God spoke this world into being. He said “let there be” heaven and earth, let there be light and darkness, let there be oceans and dry land, let there be vegetation, living creatures, and human beings. God spoke and everything changed.
And God continues to speak into his creation. Isn’t that why we continue to show up here, to hear the word of God, in scripture, and in prayer? God reveals so much to us, when we pay attention. God reveals something in that very creation which God spoke into being. With this latest atmospheric river we are experiencing, how many of you have heard God tell you to start building an ark?
God speaks to us in all that is beautiful, in song, in art, in the written word, in Creation. Growing up in the Episcopal Church, as children we sang:
“All Things Bright and Beautiful
All creatures great and small
All things wise and wonderful
The Lord God made them all”
God also reveals something in that still, small voice we hear with our heart, in our soul, in our gut. Isn’t that why we set aside time with God in silence, during the day, in prayer and meditation? For some it is an audible voice, for most of us it is not. I have not heard with my ears God speaking to me. I have not experienced God in a burning bush. And yet I know God speaks to me through the Holy Spirit; again, when I pay attention.
“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 Him was life, and the life was the light of all people.
“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 unto the world.”
We read about John the Baptizer during Advent, in the Sunday Lectionary. On the Second Sunday of Advent, we read from the Gospel according to Luke, “…the word of God came to John, son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”
On the third Sunday of Advent, we continued with the story of John speaking to the crowd that came to be baptized: “You brood of vipers!” And with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people. You would have to get past the “brood of vipers part”, to hear good news. John knew his calling, sent from God as a witness to testify to the light, proclaim a baptism of repentance, proclaim good news.
John was not the light, but testified to the light. He was not the way, but prepared the way, pointed the way to God. And when the people questioned whether he might be the Messiah, he made it clear to them, “One who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals.” John could have tried to gain some glory for himself. He certainly gained notoriety, and not in a positive way. And John had his own followers. But always, always he pointed away from himself, toward Jesus, the Messiah.
And I think that is also our calling, when we share the Good News of Christ with others, it is not about us. We do not say, “Follow me”, believe what we believe, worship the way we worship. I think God calls us to share the Good News with others, so that they may find the Way to which God calls them. And as followers of Christ, we all share the Way, even though we may walk different paths.
Jesus is the Word spoken by God. Jesus made God available to us. Because of Him, we become children of God. Merry Christmas! The Rev. Robin Finch+