Merry Christmas!

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known. (John 1:14-18 ESV). Merry Christmas! I hope today brings you the best of the Holy Day. I have chosen a reading from the Gospel of John. That may seem a bit odd since John does not mention the birth of Jesus as do Matthew and Luke. John chose to begin at the creation. If we were to read from the beginning of the book, we would see that Jesus was the Creator. It was His word that was spoken that brought everything into existence. It is John’s way of helping us to understand that Jesus did not become God after His birth. He was always God, eternally. That great God, however, did take on flesh. He became man. So, the fourth voice in our chorus of gospel witnesses belongs to John, the disciple whom Jesus loved; and, in nine short words he tells us of the mystery of the incarnation. And the Word became flesh and lived among us. These are the most encouraging words within the story of Jesus.  To a youngster maliciously left out of the crowd, the Gospel writer urges us to say, And the Word became flesh and lived among us…  To an elderly person painfully put in the home, the Gospel writer urges us to say, And the Word became flesh and lived among us…  To a mother holding a starving child, helpless to cut the edge of her hunger, the Gospel writer urges us to say, And the Word became flesh and lived among us…  To everyone, everywhere, the Gospel writer urges us to say, And the Word became flesh and lived among us… John Calvin, the spiritual forbearer of many in the Reformed tradition, writes this in a beautiful section of The Institutes of the Christian Religion: “Since we see that so great a store of every good thing abounds in him, let us drink our fill from this fountain and from no other!” Indeed, if my hope for you is the best of this Holy Day, then we must begin at this great beginning. Jesus came to his own; he became one of his own. Jesus became flesh so that his death would be sufficient to pay our debt in exchange for eternal life. That is the best gift anyone could possibly receive! Merry Christmas!