This homily was preached for Fairfax Community Church on January 2, 2021
John 1:1-5, 14
“In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
All things came into being through him,
and without him, not one thing came into being.
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.
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.”
This is the Word of God.
Every time I read these words,
I feel I should sit in silence
and let them reverberate in my heart and mind.
I think these may be my favorite verses in all of Scripture,
and anything that follows,
surely pales in comparison.
But a preacher preaches,
and so I’ll ignore my inclination for just a few moments.
John’s gospel opens with lofty, abstract concepts:
light, glory, grace, and truth.
The poetic nature of his introduction
accentuates the loftiness of these ideals.
These are lovely, big ideas, …
and, thankfully, he grounds them in the Word …
who was with God and who was God …
in the other words Jesus Christ.
The Word became flesh and lived among us
and we have seen his glory …
full of grace and truth.
In Jesus we come to know this unknowable God
in whom we live and move and have our being.
It is in the Incarnation of Jesus that we experience God,
even as he surprisingly comes to us as a vulnerable human baby.
My favorite Christmas book is The Littlest Angel, by Charles Tazewell.
The story is about a young angel snatched out of life
and ushered to the pearly gates far too young.
As you might expect of a 4-year-old boy, he wrecks havoc in heaven
being terribly unhappy away from his earthly family and activities.
After pages describing his heart wrenching attempts to adjust to heaven,
an Understanding Angel helps provide
what will calm this Littlest Angel’s soul.
It’s a rough unsightly wooden box
that the Littlest Angel left under his bed at home.
What was in it?
“Well, there was a butterfly with golden wings,
captured one bright summer day on the hills above Jerusalem.
And a sky-blue egg from a bird’s nest in the olive tree
that stood to shade his mother’s kitchen door.
Yes, and two white stones, found on a muddy river bank,
where he and his friend had played like small brown beavers.
And at the bottom of the box, a limp, tooth-marked leather strap,
once worn as a collar by his morel dog,
who died as he lived, in absolute love and infinite devotion.”
Possession of this box finally brings the Littlest Angel peace.
With no angst in his soul the book almost becomes mundane
until we learn that Jesus is to be born on Earth.
All the angels in heaven
prepare bright, sparkling, magnificent gifts for the Christ child.
The Littlest Angel,
unable to think of anything more special,
gifts Baby Jesus with his very un-flashy wooden box.
Setting it amongst all the glimmering gifts from all the other angels
he immediately becomes embarrassed and seeks to remove it
from the mountain of shimmering boxes,
but he’s too late and with tears of anguish streaming down his little face
he hears God say:
“Of all the gifts of all the angels,
I find that this small box pleases Me most.
It’s contents are of the Earth and of people,
and My Son is born to be King of both.
These are the things My Son, too, will know and love and cherish
and then, regretful, will leave behind when His time on Earth is done.
I accept this gift in the Name of the Child, Jesus,
born of Mary this night in Bethlehem.”
At this, the Littlest Angel’s wooden box
began to glow with a radiant brilliance,
rose up into the sky,
and became the shining star of Bethlehem
with its beckoning light over the stable where Jesus was born.
On this 2nd day of 2022, I invite us all into a time of reflection.
We have here circular pieces of cardboard,
one for each of you,
along with magazines, scissors, and glue.
[Those of you at home will likely be able to gather these items
or can probably get some from church at a later time.
There’s nothing significant about the circles …
they are just a nice base to work on].
I’ll invite you to take some supplies
and then we’ll spend 10 minutes or so in silence as we work.
Leaf through a magazine or two
and tear out any images or words that stand out to you.
You don’t need to know why they do …
you might be surprised by what draws you.
That’s okay.
Maybe this is Spirit speaking to you
with some small nugget of wisdom, some small gift of awareness.
I’ll let you know when 5 minutes have passed
and if you like, you might choose to start cutting and pasting
your words and images onto your circle.
Many of you might appreciate much more time than just 10 minutes …
there is no pressure to finish this during today’s worship.
This is only for you,
and if you’re so inclined,
you might continue to work on it this coming week,
or even on and off during the month of January.
Ultimately, I invite you to look for what you might be encouraged
to bring to life in this new year, based on what has attracted you.
Because you too,
each one of you,
are Words made flesh.
Each one of you have lofty concepts in you …
Love, compassion, justice, truth …
and you grace all who know you with an incarnated, full-of-life experience
of these otherwise unknowable virtues.
And God rejoices in witnessing the person you are,
God’s child.
God rejoices in seeing how you have lived into your unique self
and will continue to do so in 2022.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.