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Sunday January 3, 2009 "Beginning Again" John 1: 1-18 |
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Location: Blogs Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons |
 | | Posted by: Brad Miller | 1/26/2010 1:19 PM | Sunday January 3, 2009
“Beginning Again”
John 1: 1-18
As we move through the Christmas season – and no, Christmas is not quite over – we have lots of opportunities to reflect on everything that has gone on over the past few month. The things we have talked about in worship and in our bible study classes; the gatherings with friends and families; the gifts exchanged; the relationships renewed; the stresses and strains that come with all the activity.
We have spent the better part of Advent and Christmas doing our best to reconnect with “the reason for the season” and celebrate the amazing story that surrounds the birth of Jesus. But, still somehow, we get to this point as Christmastide begins to wind down and the question still lingers: “What was that all about, anyway?”
The writer of the Gospel of John gives us a resounding, emphatic answer. John’s eloquent reply nearly thunders across the centuries: “In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God and word was God….what has come into being in him was life and the life was the light of all people…the word became flesh and lived among us…grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” What John tells us is nothing short of miraculouos: God poured himself into human form, in the paradoxical form of a baby of most humble origins. John’s astonishing proclamation overwhelms our human imagination and more questions are raised: How could such a thing happen? And what does it mean for me?
John’s Gospel does not include a birth narrative, or any account of the events leading up to Jesus’ birth. But what John does better than any of the other gospel writers is get right to the heart of the matter: Jesus is God made flesh, here on earth, among us.
In the opening statements of this gospel, we hear what many call “John’s creation story.” Like Genesis, it gives us information about the power and majesty of God and some notion of the depth and breadth of God’s creative power. Like Genesis, it is an account of the beginning…the beginning of everything that we know. The beginning of life.
Unlike Genesis, John makes it clear that there is more than one beginning and this is news that should lead us to dance and shout and drop to our in knees in thanksgiving! Because in this new beginning, we are given access to God as never before. In this new beginning, we are told that God is here with us, for us, all around us. God is not a being who fashioned creation on a whim and then walked away. No, in John’s account of the new beginning, we are told directly and lovingly that God is with us, God cares for us, God wants to have a relationship with us.
Woven throughout these 18 verses are the touchstones of what it means to “begin again.”
We are told right up front that the one we call Jesus has been part of God since the beginning. Calling Jesus “the Word”, John makes it clear that Jesus was with God from the beginning, and indeed, Jesus was God. And as we all know, all of creation came into being through God’s power and grace.
This then, is John’s description of the first beginning. We get another glimpse of a new beginning near the end of the passage when John tells us that Moses was part of God’s plan. The gospel writer makes it clear that all grace and life came through God and Moses, the lawgiver, signaled a new beginning for the Hebrew people in bondage.
Moses, acting as an intermediary between God and God’s chosen people, allowed the Hebrew people to begin again – to find their way to the land that God promised, the land of milk and honey, the land of Canaan. There, God’s people would honor God with their lives and their livelihoods.
But our history tells us that something still wasn’t right. With the twists and turns of humanity, things reached a point where another new beginning was warranted. God had destroyed most of humanity with the great flood, leading Noah to be the harbinger of a massive new beginning, but God had also promised that this kind of destruction would never again come from God’s hand. Yet, with all of humanity needing a chance to begin again, what was to be done?
What was to be done was for God to take on human form and enter into creation as a fellow traveler. John the Baptist, whom we will hear more about in a couple of weeks, was part of this plan. John came as a witness, one who could herald the coming of the messiah, God on earth. This was extremely important because without some sort of signal, how would the people ever know or accept who Jesus really was. We are a hard headed, stiff necked lot, we humans, and God understood that the way must be prepared if we were to accept God’s gift of the messiah.
And just as John testified, Jesus came onto the scene, teaching, loving, healing, offering all of humanity a chance to know God. It would not be an easy journey. Not all would accept Jesus for who he is. But the offer of a new beginning is one that we must take just as seriously today as 2000 years ago.
I don’t think it is an accident that this scripture is traditionally heard the first Sunday of a new year. Just as all of our history is full of God’s signaling new beginnings, the new year gives us a chance to take that to heart and make decisions about how we are to avail ourselves of this new beginning.
Make no mistake: the new beginning that Jesus offered so many years ago is still available to us today. Just as the Hebrew people had a chance to begin again, and again, and again, under Moses’ leadership; just as John the Baptist prepared the people to begin again with the coming of Jesus; just as Jesus allowed for a new beginning for all people of his day, we are offered that same chance again.
This is wonderfully hopeful message, nearly too good to be true. But our experience and our scriptures testify to the fact that it is true and turns the burden back to us: what are we going to do about it?
Are we going to choose to seek out the light that Jesus offers and move forward in hope and expectation? Because if we do, the gospel writer tells us clearly, we will have the power to become children of God. Because in Jesus, God has been made known to us, God has made it clear that our existence matters and that God is never far away. In Jesus, we know unequivocally that God came to share in the human experience, human suffering, even human death – but more importantly, God is as close as our next breath and shares all the joy and hope and exhilaration of life.
No matter where we find ourselves, John’s gospel makes it clear that God is with us, helping to shoulder the burdens and celebrate the victories of life. It is message of such staggering grace as to leave us speechless. And having heard the message it is up to us to take the next step and begin again.
Because each and everyone one of us has need of a new beginning, of some sort, in our lives. And it is up to each and everyone one of us to take advantage of what God has so graciously offered. The question is, how?
The fact is that the answer for each of us is going to be different. Each of us faces different challenges, each of us finds ourselves in different situations. And it is up to each of us to look ourselves in the mirror and come to an understanding of where we need God’s help to begin again.
That understanding will be different for each of us. But there are things that we can all do to help us begin again.
The very first thing we can each do is stop and be in conversation with God, on a regular basis. Before we can begin again we must spend time in prayer, confessing our sins, laying out our shortcomings, asking for God’s presence. This is not an easy discipline, but is one that is vitally important to each of us. Find time every day when you can be completely undistracted – in the quiet hours of the morning, in the evening, just before you go to bed – whatever works for you. Take this time – 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, whatever you are comfortable with – and simply be with God. In the silence, empty yourself of the worries of the day and simply and directly, ask God to be with you. As you sit and listen, open yourself up to the possibilities that are in front of you: let go of the mistakes and missteps of the past, dwell on the opportunities of the future. Work on offering forgiveness to those who have hurt you. Work on forgiving yourself for the hurt you have caused. Open yourself up, imperfections and all, and let God in.
I guarantee that at first, this will be hard. But each of us need to take the time to do it. It will be awkward to sit in silence. It will be hard to find words to speak. It will be difficult to own up to the mistakes we have made. But it is where all new beginnings must start: standing humbly before God, experiencing God’s very real presence, seeking God’s amazing grace and exulting in God’s overwhelming love.
A second step in beginning again is to return to the Word of God that is made available to us in our Holy scriptures. While our own personal experience of God is so important, so is grounding ourselves in the stories handed down to us throughout the ages. In our Holy Bible are accounts of human experience of God’s presence. In the Bible are stories to illuminate the depth of God’s love. In the Bible are examples of other humans, flawed and imperfect as they come, who felt God’s presence and did their very best to live out God’s will in their lives. In our the pages of our Bible are guides and fellow travelers and ne’er do wells and saints and sinners. And each and everyone has something to teach us about who God is, and who we are.
To begin again, return to the scriptures, make a plan to commit to reading every day. And since I know that is sometimes difficult to sustain, I would invite you to join a bible study or Sunday school class that seeks to open God’s Word up to be shared and pondered. And keep your eyes open for new Bible studies that will help in that endeavor.
Each of us is in a very different place as we begin 2010. Each of has different needs and different burdens. Each of us is strong in some aspects, and weak in others. But each of us can always use a new beginning of some sort in some part of our lives. These two things – prayer and study - are at the foundation of all of our new beginnings. They are not easy, but if we commit to doing these two things in the new year, we will find ourselves at a much different place when we embark on 2011.
There is one more thing that we must commit to as we seek to begin again. Firmly ingrained in the gospel of John is one fact: God calls on us to do for others, just as God has done for us.
God came to earth in the form of a human not just to shock us into obedience, but to help us, to teach us, to serve us. And we are called to do the same.
“To all who receive Jesus, to all who believe in his name, he gives power to become children of God…” and that means we are called to serve in God’s name, wherever and whenever we find the need.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God and word was God…’
As we begin a new year, let us dedicate ourselves to finding ways to honor the gift we have been given during the Christmas season…the gift of grace and love and life.
Happy New Year…it’s time to begin again.
Let us pray: Lord, help us begin again by returning to you every day and in every way. Help us to listen for your voice, help us to admit our wrongs, help us to shed our prejudices, help us to hear your word. As we hear your word, give us strength to move into the world to help those who need your presence. And help us to be for them, a new beginning, just as you are a new beginning for us, today, tomorrow and every day of our life. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
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