Loading...In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God,
the word WAS God.
The word IS God.
What do words mean?
Years ago, I learned a way of thinking about words which,
as kids these days say:
“MIND. BLOWN!”
First of all, metaphor — something that is kind of like the thing you are describing, but also not.
The metaphor is representative, but not literal.
For example: “The falling snowflakes are dancers”
“The calm lake is a mirror.”
“God is our rock.”
The snowflakes aren’t actually dancers,
but they seem to dance about as they fall.
The lake isn’t really a mirror,
although it might clearly reflect the sky or the shoreline.
And, God isn’t a rock,
even though we might rely on the steady presence of God.
There is an “is/is not” quality to each and every metaphor.
The snowflakes dance, yet they are not dancers.
The lake mirrors things, but is not a mirror.
God is solid like a rock, but is so much more than just granite, shale,
or lava!
OK so far. Just like 7th grade grammar class.
Here’s where the mind-blown part came in:
language and words are, themselves, metaphors.
Every word both is the thing that it is describing
(after all that’s an important way we communicate),
yet the word is not ACTUALLY the thing itself.
Phew.
Except here. Well, mostly.
In the beginning was the WORD, and the WORD became flesh and lived among us.
Those are, are you ready for this brilliant statement?,
just words on a page,
but they are telling us about The Word.
Logos, the Word of God
the truth of God’s love for you and all of creation,
the life and light for all people,
the glory of God which is humility and love
and grace upon grace
Which, when you think about it, are all metaphors for God and what God is.
The incarnation, Immanuel, Messiah, Christ, Savior,
After awhile the words begin to jumble together
and it begins to feel like a merry-go-round,
and I get dizzier and dizzier.
What we’re left with then is the mystery of God’s great, radical, and profound love for each of us.
Words fade away and we are left with silence—
the Magnum Mysterium with great depth of meaning.
[silence]
This is, my dear friends, the joy of Christmas —
that you are loved so completely and wholly.
Nothing, nothing, gets in the way of that, or stops the love of God.
The breath of God which makes the words happen
which created the world and all that has been, is, and will be in it,
and which speaks wisdom and truth,
is the same breath that was the cries of a baby,
the same breath that invited the despised, rejected, and overlooked
to be part of a community of inclusion,
the same breath that spoke with (and the was silent as he listened t0) women,
the same breath that healed the sick and offered blessing and food
to the masses of hungry people,
the same breath that irritated, annoyed, and angered
the religious and political powers that be,
the same breath that breathed its last on the cross.
This Word which became flesh and lives among us
is the good news of great joy of God coming to hang out with us
in the good (yay),
but also in the bad — when you might feel like nothing is going right,
or that everyone is tired of you and your worries,
or that systems and people are fighting against you,
or that you are so far gone that there’s no way
that you can ever be loved or cared for again,
or when you feel like you’re in the pit of loss and despair
with no way out.
This good news,
this love,
this Word,
is not just for the elite,
or for those who can pay for it,
or for those who “earn” it,
or who are “good enough”.
The truth is,
it is for you. This is the gift of Christmas, the joy of the Incarnation.
“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.”
