My sermon from Christmas Morning, 2006

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Readings: Isaiah 52:7-10, Psalm 98:1-6, Hebrews 1:1-12, John 1:1-14

It's Christmas morning! All the wonder and anticipation of Advent has come to this awesome and amazing day. Beyond the Christmas tree and the ravaging of gifts last night and this morning, we can find ourselves in a time of peace and wonder - the Word, God incarnate, Emmanuel has been born into the world.

John's introduction to his gospel this morning shouts to the world and to the heavens declaring that since the moment creation began there hasn't been a single more cosmically significant event than this birth. I love John's excitement in today's gospel. Here in microcosm is the entirety of salvation history including the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ in the world.
Starting with the beginning, John declares Christ as the Word, present with God before creation began - one and the same with God as God's spoken word. As we state every week in our creed, John states that through him all things were made. We talk about this a little bit on Trinity Sunday, but we rarely get the chance to really look at what it means that Christ is the Word of God made flesh. God the all powerful, all knowing, indescribable creator of the universe is known to us only through ways in which we can perceive God's presence. The Word is one such way. In this relationship we might think of God the Creator voicing God's will through the spoken Word, which becomes the power that creates - the Living Word of God as God's action in the decision to create. In this model, the breath of God that drives the spoken word can be seen as the Holy Spirit. This Living Word, God's volition in the creative act is the same Word that is made flesh in Christ - the living manifestation of God's own pure will put into action amongst us in the world.
John continues with a twist on the creative act of the Word, switching to the new creation that came along with Christ into the world - new life that John says is the light of all people: A light that shines in the darkness, a light that is present still, while the darkness that tried to overcome it is in the past - the darkness did not overcome it. Here John touches on all of salvation history. God's Word sent through the prophets, the visitation by angels bringing God's Word to God's chosen leaders, from Melchizedek in the time of Abraham to the burning bush, down through history to Mary, until finally the Word is simply born into the world to bring light and life personally through God's direct action in the world.
John the Baptist, Jesus' cousin by virtue of Elizabeth's family relation to Mary, came to proclaim that light, which other than Mary, a few magi from the East, and a couple of temple prophets, was unknown in the world which was created through him. Even after coming to know of him, John explains, his own people in the world he created ultimately rejected him.
But, and there's always an awesome and cosmic "but" in the Gospel message, the Good News is that to those who come to believe in him, Christ gives the power to become children of God - to continue Christ's work of light, love, and redemption in the world.
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.

I think one of my favorite things about John's gospel is how marvelously he conveys his excitement about the story and the news he's telling. It's an excitement that I've experienced both personally and vicariously through friends and family as they have come to experience God in profoundly personal and close ways for the first time in their lives. And this is the same excitement that John brings to his gospel - that of a new, invigorated, life-changing encounter with God that simply cannot be contained.

I remember making a phone call to my brother when I got back to my home parish after Happening. Most of you have heard me speak of Happening before, it's a spiritual retreat for teenagers, planned and led by other teens who have experienced the weekend before. It is similar to Cursillo, which is the adult version of the retreat, and is designed to help teens to experience Christ in a personal and meaningful way. For most it is a profound experience of God's love that many have never experienced before. Such was my own experience. Having come into the presence of the Holy in a way I had never experienced before, I felt that profound excitement that John conveys in his gospel - an excitement that I couldn't contain. As soon as I was within reach of a phone after the retreat, I called my family to share my experiences with them. I told them everything about the weekend and about my experience of God, so profound that I would never be the same. I remember my brother saying that he had never experienced God in that way and that he hoped he would some day. I felt as though my face must have been shining from the reactions I got from people I passed on the street and interacted with for the next several weeks.

This is the excitement of the shepherds as they came in from the fields and then went back into the world rejoicing, this is the excitement that brought magi from great distances from the East to bring gifts and took them home by another route so as to protect the holy family from Herod, this is the excitement of a new mother who has just birthed God into the world. And this is the excitement that I hope each of you can feel anew this Christmas morning. The excitement of knowing you've been in the presence of the holy and have been blessed by the encounter in ways that will change you forever.

This Christmas morning I hope you'll each make one final gift of your own selves to the world around you. We've each been given gifts to lighten the world around us, to proclaim the light that came into the world through sharing of ourselves with all those around us. This is the ultimate abundance of God's kingdom - an abundance of life, light, love, and support through us, who have been made children of God through Christ.

Merry Christmas.

Amen.