The following sermon was preached at saint benedict’s table on Sunday, December 29, 2019. You can also listen to the live recording or subscribe to our podcast. Just click here.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable and pleasing in your sight O God for you are our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Last Sunday we had a reading from the beginning of Matthew’s gospel and today we get one from the beginning of John’s. I think it is safe to assume that both writers put a fair bit of thought into how they were going to begin their gospels, and, as I mentioned last week, both wouldn’t have wanted to waste words or paper in ways that are commonplace now. When they finally decided to write these words down, they chose them very carefully.
It seems to me that both men thought, “the most logical place to begin is the beginning.” For Matthew that meant opening with Jesus’ genealogy. For John, that literally means beginning with the words, “In the beginning…”
John waits until the end of his gospel to tell us why he wrote it. He says, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” (20:30-31)
In deciding what he will write down and what he won’t, John’s focus is on convincing us that Jesus is the Son of God, but not simply so we will have accurate information. Rather, John wrote his gospel so that “through believing you may have life in his name.”
Belief and life are two key themes in John’s gospel. The word “believe” appears as a verb 98 times. It never appears as a noun. Jaime Clark- Soles observes that for John, “Believing is a verb. He tells you that he left out numerous details but that he has provided all that is necessary for you to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that believing leads to life. Abundant Life, Embodied Life, Eternal Life, Precious Life. The Fourth Gospel is concerned with nothing but Life: how we get it, how we lose it, how we find it again, or, better yet, how we get found by it.”
The entire Bible in its current form begins with the words: “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth.” (Gen 1:1) John is intentionally referencing the story of creation found in Genesis so it’s good for us to have that in mind when we read the rest of what he has to say.
John’s gospel begins: “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. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.” (1-3)
God is a being that creates. God is an inherently creative being. Just look at the platypus. Just look at the people gathered in this room.
All things, every single thing that exists “came into being” because of our trinitarian God. Jesus did not simply come into existence when he was born as a human being. Jesus was a part of God from the very beginning.
Although it sounds fairly abstract at first, John is repeating and reframing the Genesis creation story. He is saying that everything on earth comes from God. Jaime Clark-Soles explains that John is saying that: “Not a single thing that has been created was created apart from God. It all came from God, it all belongs to God, and it all testifies to and reveals God. In that way, creation itself is a sacrament, a means of grace.
For John, with the Incarnation, God becoming flesh, bread is no longer just bread (see chapter 6); flesh is no longer just flesh, water is no longer just water (see chapters 3,4,7,19); vines, branches, sheep, shepherds – all of them reveal the nature of God and identity of Christ. No wonder, then, that in healing the blind man (chapter 9), Jesus takes the dirt and mixes it with saliva and puts it on the man’s eyes. Surely Jesus could have skipped all the messy, dirty parts and just healed the guy, as he does elsewhere (see chapter 5). But the use of the earth and the spit should remind us of the creation as told by Genesis, where God creates the first-person using earth.”
But if you were just sitting and reading the opening chapters of John you might be surprised that, for a guy who seems to think it’s important to start the story from the very beginning, that after his “in the beginning was the word section,” John doesn’t give us any details of Jesus’ birth or early years. Jesus will appear a little bit further into the first chapter, but he is already a grown man.
Which is a pretty big chunk of time to skip over.
I suspect that John felt that the details of Jesus’ adult ministry were the most important ones to include. The ones that would help him achieve his stated aim of persuading us to believe in Jesus Christ. So he included those stories and skipped over Jesus’ entire childhood.
But it’s also possible that he did think those early stories from Jesus’ life were important, but as the last of the four gospel writers to complete his work, he would have known that those stories had already been written down. No need to repeat them, he could get right to the parts of the story he felt were the most important.
He begins by reminding us of God’s role in the creation of the entire world.
The Genesis creation story, or stories – there are two of them – have been the source of a lot of debate and discussion over the years but personally I’ve never gotten overly excited about the details. I honestly don’t care how it all happened.
What matters to me is that in the big picture of things, we are not cosmic accidents.
We were created.
Each and every one of us is a unique combination of DNA and experiences and that is no accident.
The Bible is not a medical or a scientific textbook so we don’t find those sorts of descriptions of what happened “in the beginning” but throughout the scriptures, including in today’s gospel reading, we see creation described through metaphors and poetry. And let’s stay with the poetry this evening and leave the science for individual conversations throughout the coming week.
What does it mean to say we are created? What are the implications of that?
I think that one thing that is implied is that it’s important for us to be curious about who we are and how we have been wired up. Why do we love the things we love? Hate the things we hate? Why do some things come easily to us while others are a struggle? What does all of that mean?
Clark- Soles again: “John is interested in creation. He has a brief litmus test for what is Christian and what isn’t: if it is life-giving, if it promotes the flourishing of all creation, then it is Christian; if it is death-dealing, it may be real, but it is not ultimate and it is certainly not Christian: [One saying of Jesus that John chooses to include is:] “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I – Jesus -came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).”
Jesus came that each one of us might have life, and life to the full. A full life, not necessarily an easy life, there are no promises that you will be happy all the time. Using John’s litmus test, a simple way of deciding if you are living into who God created you to be is – does it make you feel alive?
Last year over Lent, we invited several people from the church to tell their stories as part of our Communities of Calling vocation project. Lois Ward framed her story using metaphors of weaving. She spoke of the various threads of her life – the things she experienced, the people she met, and how God wove them all together. Looking back, she could see various patterns and themes that had emerged as well.
Lois isn’t the first person to use weaving as a metaphor for life. In Psalm 139, the psalmist writes:
For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth. (13-15)
Each one of us was “intricately woven” by God. Which is pretty amazing.
Now sometimes, we have ways of describing who God is – the bread of life, for example, and we make them concrete. Every week we gather together and we eat actual bread. But other times, for a variety of reasons, we hear these sorts of metaphors and we just let them stay as metaphors. But what could we learn if we explored their more literal meanings?
What could we learn, for example, if instead of just viewing the phrase “intricately woven” as a poetic way to describe our creation, we literally wove something?
Not long after I heard Lois speak, I travelled to San Francisco to attend a conference and visit St Gregory of Nyssa Church. The community at St Gregory’s has been influential in my own journey but this was the first time I ever stepped foot in their building. While I was there, I noticed that they had looms set up throughout the worship space and people of all ages, including toddlers could weave throughout the service.
I came home and had conversations which numerous people, including Carolyn Mount, and the idea for our weaving project was born.
Throughout the coming year, you will find a loom set up at the back of the church. Carolyn is advising us from afar and although she is away visiting family this week, Sam will be at the back of the church most Sundays to lend a hand and help you get the hang of the project.
And the beautiful thing about a project like this is that you can’t mess it up, because even if your weaving isn’t perfect, we will learn something from that too.
Last week, for example, I wove a few rows and on my third row something went wrong and I managed to get everything all tangled up. I could tell there was a problem but I couldn’t figure out how to fix it on my own.
Sam was able to point out where I had gone wrong and show me how to correct the mistake.
Which actually reminded me of the value of spiritual direction. So often I know that something in my life has gotten tangled, but I can’t quite figure out just how it got tangled up or how to untangle it. Talking through the situation with a wise and patient guide usually helps me to figure out where I got off track and what I need to do to get back on track.
Similarly, sometimes I don’t feel tangled up, sometimes I feel like I’m “at loose ends” which, is another way we’ve picked up weaving imagery in our everyday speech.
I hope you’ll feel inspired to weave a few rows each week and perhaps reflect on a question like, “What has the pattern of my life been like this week?” Did the thread of this week pass smoothly through, or did it become tangled, or do I feel stuck and at “loose ends?”
Or if not that, then I hope you’ll take a look and see how the work in unfolding each week and ask a question of your own.
We’ll be weaving together throughout the liturgical year, changing colours to reflect the seasons as we go.
And we’ll be talking more about the project and how weaving can be used as a metaphor for our lives as well – there are some fascinating instances of weaving as a metaphor in scripture and Carolyn Mount, who is a masterful weaver, will be joining us on our retreat day on February 15th to help us explore this imagery more deeply as well.
So save the date, come participate in the weaving project on Sunday nights, and as we continue to walk through the Christmas season together, take some time to reflect on the wonder of creation. Your own, those around you, and our God who chose to take on flesh and become one of us.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.