Sermon for Christmas 2C
January 3, 2010
Texts: Jeremiah 31:7-14; Psalm 147:12-20; Ephesians 1:3-14; John 1:1-18

What’s in a Word?

What is THE WORD?

How can Jesus, who was born a human,
But who was also God
Be THE WORD?

As I was pondering these questions
At the Jacksonville airport
On Tuesday evening,
Airport CNN was droning on in the background.

It is really hard to concentrate on a difficult text
When there is a lot of background noise,
Words and words echoing around.
CNN commentators and airport announcements
Vying for my mindshare with the prologue
The beginning of John’s Gospel.

As I was pondering Jesus as the Word,
A CNN report came on,
Which distracted me and happened to catch my attention.

This particular report was part of the CNN heroes series,
In which CNN honors heroes and heroines who make a difference
In their communities and in the lives of people near them.

The heroine who caught my attention was Carolyn LeCroy,
Who took the experience of her own jail term,
To provide a life altering gift for other inmates.

Carolyn, who had been a video producer,
Was jailed in 1994 for possession of marijuana. 
She saw impact that imprisonment had on the family lives
Of the inmates around her.

She counted herself fortunate, as her two sons visited her regularly,
But she often observed other women who never had a visitor.

Many other inmates’ family members were too distant geographically for regular visits,
Or their children had no means of transportation to the prison. 
Carolyn worried about the children
Who had no contact with their incarcerated parents.

When she was released from prison,
She envisioned a project
Which would provide a link between jailed parents and their children.

She used her background
As a film and video producer to start
The Messages Project.

Just before Christmas in 1999,
She and a volunteer camera crew
Where given permission to enter the Women’s Prison in Troy VA.

They recorded video messages from mothers,
Which were mailed to their children and families.

Carolyn felt that with the Messages Project,
She was able to bring something good
Out of the devastation of her own jail experience.

Since 1999, this program has been expanded to six VA prisons
And videotapes or DVDs are made three times per year. 

These videos re-establish contact between jailed mothers
And their lonely, distant children.

The recordings, which are often emotional,
Provide a touch point in a relationship characterized by separation.

In the videotapes, the parents typically apologize for their behavior
And assure the children that they are loved.
In some of them, a parent could be heard reading a story to his or her child.

Carolyn’s project brings a word from jailed parents
To children whom they cannot see.

The videotapes and DVDs bring the presence of the absent parent
Into the living space of the children
When they see their Mom or Dad speaking to them.

These videotapes are a word or a communication medium.
They reveal the parent to the child,
They provide a sense of a relationship
When it cannot be experienced in person.
Without overextending this analogy,
When John refers to Jesus as The WORD,
One of the ways that we can understand this
Is to see Jesus as the communication between God and each one of us.

We cannot see God,
But Jesus reveals God to us,
And brings God into our living space.

The stories from the Old Testament
Make it very clear that no one can see God.

The birth of Jesus changed our way of knowing God.

The people who were alive at the same time as Jesus
Saw him physically.

We, who live two thousand years later,
Have their witness,
And their record of the stories about Jesus.

We know Jesus,
And by extension,
Jesus shows us God.

Jesus, who is as close to God, as can possibly be,
Makes God known to each one of us.

In John’s Gospel,
There is no description of Jesus’ birth
No manger, no parents, no shepherds, no angels and no kings.

John’s Gospel opens with a global view
That locates Jesus at the beginning of time and space,
Right there at the beginning with God. 

John wants us to know who Jesus is
And what his relationship to God is,
Rather than how or where he was born to human parents.

If Jesus is the Word
And the means by which we see God,
John has to show us how closely linked God and Jesus are.

“No one has ever seen God,
It is God the only Son,
Who is close to the Father’s heart,
Who has made him known.”

Why in this Christmas season,
Is it important to us to know who Jesus is,
And how he reveals God to us?

Particularly on a Sunday,
Which officially is still Christmas,
But on which many of us feel a post-Christmas let down,
Why do we care about John’s description of Jesus as the Word?

Two weeks ago, we heard the excited children tell us the story of Jesus’ birth.
Ten days ago, we heard the beloved words from Luke’s Gospel
Describing Mary and Joseph’s trip to Bethlehem
And the birth of Jesus in a manger.
Last Sunday we celebrated the story with carols and lessons.

Some of us still have our manger scenes up at home,
And a few of us are still moving the three kings forward on their journey,
But for many of us,
Christmas feels just about over.

The post-Christmas let down experience is one most of us dread.
The parties and celebrations are over,
But the house is still disorganized.

The festivities, or lack there of,
May not have lived up to our expectations.

The presents have been opened,
And the wrappings have probably been hauled to the dump,
But the bills may yet await us.

It is into this letdown season
That John’s Gospel comes at us with a flourish.

Even if our celebrations now seem a little flat,
John’s description of Jesus’ origin is anything but flat.

The lyrical sentences and the cosmic imagery
Show us Jesus at his expansive best.

There is a build up, a drum role, an image of light overcoming darkness,
And finally in verse 17, Jesus’ name is at last spoken
And associated with all the power of the previous 16 verses. 
John attributes to Jesus
A supersized role.

Jesus is not just the special baby in a manger,
Sung about by angels
But John boldly shows Jesus as God,
God come to earth as a human being,
Come into the midst of all the messiness of our lives as human beings.

Just as the words in Carolyn LeCroy’s videotapes,
Appear in children’s living rooms
To reveal invisible, incarcerated parents to their children,
Jesus the Word, linked at the heart to God,
Comes down to us,
And reveals the invisible God to us. 

Think about this in the context of your own life.

The complexity and chaos of your life
Is not observed from afar by a God on high,
But rather experienced by a God in your midst.

God is sitting right there in the middle
Of whatever post-Christmas feelings,
Highs or lows,
You might be having.

God is in the middle of your sorrow
Of having to say good by to a beloved grandchild.

God is in the middle of any regrets
About misspoken words at the family Christmas celebration.

God is in the midst of the celebration
Of the joy at the home coming of your favorite college student.

We have a God who cares enough about you
To come into our broken, chaotic, and sometimes joy-filled world,
Becoming human, dwelling among us,
Sharing in the highs and lows of your life.

John’s expansive, go-back to the beginning of time,
Light bringing, God-linked Jesus
Living in our midst,
Is the kind of Good News that you need
On a grey, snowy, post-Christmas blues Sunday.
Hear the words!

Sense the glory!

Feel the power of the revelation of Emmanuel, God with us.

The Word, the revelation of God
Became flesh and dwelled among us,
And we have seen his glory,
The glory of a Father’s only son,
Full of grace and truth.

Thanks be to God.