In the Beginning... well, a lot happened in the beginning really: God created the heavens and the earth; the stars were spun on their orbits, the word was...
Here is the interesting thing about storytelling – it is good to know what the author has in mind. A good storyteller never says anything without having a reason to say it; and when you start a story with “In the Beginning” you are really talking about the future.
I know it doesn’t sound that way – you might think that the story is about the past. Most stories about the past start differently though; they start with “a long time ago...”
“In the beginning” is like a point form list; as soon as you hear it you should be hearing that the story has to do with past, present and future. First of all, this happened, now it is happening this way, and later, you can expect....
So let’s use that particular bit of wisdom and look at our gospel reading again...
“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.”
That is the past... The Word, or in Greek, Logos, the creative and imaginatory power of all life, was part of what created this whole ball of wax. Nothing was created without that artistic flair that the logos brings.
“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.”
This is the present... as it relates to the past. At least for the storyteller... the logos which is the light of all people has always existed; and John has come to tell us about that – and about how the logos was incarnate in his cousin Jesus, and we did not listen, and well, we know the whole story of Jesus pretty well from other places, John wasn’t writing a biography, he was writing theology...
“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 we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth... from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace... “
This is the future, at least in a sense. John has told us the story of faith: God always was, God was revealed in Jesus to us, but we didn’t understand, if we come to understand we become children of God and come to know grace and truth.
A lot of the time we are looking for the trees, and we miss the forest. When it comes to church and our faith we are thinking that there has to be some sort of difficult ritual, or secret truth that we are missing. I am pretty sure if we were having a cup of coffee with Jesus he would look at us and say, ‘nope... it’s just love, that’s it.’
Every single time we come across a prophecy, or a bit of wisdom, or a teaching, or even someone speaking with hope and conviction in the Bible, they are talking about love. Sometimes they use the word “grace” to describe the love of God, but it is love nonetheless.
This is the reality of faith that can change your life, this is what we are adopted into as children of God, this is what it really is all about.
So here we are at the beginning of another year, the future lies before us, and the question is, what is the faithful response?
I think we begin again. I think we recognize that right here, right now, the word has come among us, and is with us, and God’s grace is being poured out for us to connect to, and love surrounds us... I could keep saying it in as many different ways as I can imagine, but what I really want this year is for us to hear it. Not just with our ears, but with our hearts.
And what we need to hear is that God loves us. God loves us even if we are young, even if we are old, even if we look funny, even if we swear when we hit our finger with a hammer, even if we drink too much rum and eggnog when the season gets stressful, even if we grew up abused, even if we screw things up, even if we are divorced, even if we are poor, even if we are rich, even if we are grumpy...
Again, the list could go on and on and on.
The point is that God loves you... YOU!
This year we are going to focus on just that one simple truth. I am going to say it so many times and in so many ways that you will get sick of it. But maybe, just maybe, we can convince some people. Perhaps if we work really hard, we just might get people asking some tough questions.
The reason the Bible starts with Genesis and tells you that God is in all things, the reason that John begins his gospel and says that God is in all things, the reason that people who otherwise felt lost and helpless listened when Jesus spoke, is because our faith is a story that is unfolding with a purpose, and that purpose is for us to realize the power we have within us, the potential that is God’s love.
The Wise Men looked out of the window, saw a star, and realized that everything had changed, and to use a Biblical turn of phrase, died to their old selves and set out on a journey; now it is our turn.
What we see along the way will change us forever, and I guarantee that it will be a change for the better. Let’s get started.
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