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| Summary: Even on Christmas, we experience the darkness of creation. That darkness affects every aspect of our lives, including our own hearts and the church. Nevertheless, we proclaim John’s promise that the darkness cannot put out the light. |
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| Summary: John’s use of “the Word became flesh” tells us of the significance of the Incarnation. Christmas helps us understand God, tells us that God loves us, demonstrates that we can reflect God, and shows us that God depends on us. God had been speaking to humankind all along, but Christmas was God’s loving shout. |
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| Summary: “The Word became flesh” helps describe the significance of the Incarnation. Christmas helps us understand God, tells us that God loves us, demonstrates that we can reflect God, and shows us that God depends on us. God had been speaking to humankind all along, but Christmas was God’s loving shout. |
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| Summary: John’s use of “the Word became flesh” tells us of the significance of the Incarnation. Christmas helps us understand God, tells us that God loves us, demonstrates that we can reflect God, and shows us that God depends on us. God had been speaking to humankind all along, but Christmas was God’s loving shout. |
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| Summary: Despite our culture’s assumption of Christmas cheer, Christmas can be a hectic and even sad time for many. When John asserts that the Word became flesh, we can hear in that the affirmation that God has experienced our grief. We take comfort in knowing that God understands our vulnerability. |
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| Summary: The illumination of God comes from Jesus, the true light who enlightens everyone. |
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| Summary: We’re used to taking elements from the Christmas story as found in Matthew and Luke for our Christmas pageants — Mary, Joseph, the Infant, angels, stars, shepherds, sheep and magi. But John the Evangelist is setting his pageant on an unimaginably large stage with a cast of characters that spans all of space and time. Now this is a show worth putting on! |
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| Summary: The Prologue to John’s gospel uses metaphorical language as a way to link the notion of The Word of God with the incarnation of God’s Son. It is through the Word of God and the Son of God that we come to know God most fully. |
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| Summary: “The Word became flesh” tells us of the significance of the Incarnation. Christmas helps us understand God, demonstrates that we can reflect God, and shows us that God depends on us. God had been speaking to humankind all along, but Christmas was God’s loving shout. |
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| Summary: This majestic opening passage of John seems otherworldly. But we need to understand that it is the opposite of that. These soaring cadences ground the early disciples’ witness firmly in the everyday understandings of John’s day. In our day, we can receive inspiration from this passage for grounding our own witness in today’s understandings. |
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| Summary: We need to learn to give Christmas away because if there is anything Christmas is about, it is about giving. At the first, God giving Christmas to us, and then, our giving Christmas away. |
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| Summary: John’s use of “the Word became flesh” tells us of the significance of the Incarnation. Christmas helps us understand God, tells us that God loves us, demonstrates that we can reflect God, and shows us that God depends on us. God had been speaking to humankind all along, but Christmas was God’s loving shout. |
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| Summary: Despite our culture’s assumption of Christmas cheer, Christmas can be a hectic and even sad time for many. When John asserts that the Word became flesh, we can hear in that the affirmation that God has experienced our grief. We take comfort in knowing that God understands our vulnerability. |
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| Summary: After we learn to “keep” Christmas, we need to learn to give it away. Because if there’s anything Christmas is about, it’s giving. At the first, God giving Christmas to us, and then, our giving Christmas away. |
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| Summary: John’s message that the Word became flesh matters to us because God has identified with our human weakness, made a commitment to us and stands in solidarity with the ways the world harms our bodies. |
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| Summary: If you were asked to tell the story of Christmas, you’d probably mention a long journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, shepherds and sheep, a sky full of singing angels, the wise men from the east, the inn with a “No Vacancy” sign and of course, a very pregnant Mary and a concerned Joseph. But today’s gospel reading doesn’t mention any of these events. What’s going on? |
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| Summary: The light of Christ, that came into the world on that first Christmas, shines all the brighter because of the darkness in the world. Ironically, it is the very darkness, the symbol of chaos and wrong, that makes the light of Christ so dramatic in its effect. |
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| Summary: As interesting as the answers to questions about where we were born or how we were raised might be, the reason we were born is of far more importance. One reason is for us to be an advertisement for the God in whose image we were created. We have a model for this in the person of John the Baptist. |
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| Summary: John the Baptist, while carefully asserting his own identity — as well as stating who he was NOT — proclaimed the preparation needed for the world to receive the gift of God’s Son. |
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| Summary: The ancients witnessed to a great light because it was important to them. John the Baptist was also, in the words of this gospel, “a witness to the light.” We stand in this great tradition, and witness to the light of Jesus. |
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| Summary: Like the prophet Isaiah, John the Baptist was not himself the light. He came to show the way to the light. In the same way, we are challenged to share the life and the light of Jesus with others.
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| Summary: Jesus comes to us as “one unknown.” It is our joy to become acquainted with him. |
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| Summary: Who are you in the eyes of the world? Perhaps that is the wrong question. More importantly, who are you in God’s eyes? God recognizes our unique abilities that enable us to share the Good News of God’s hope and new life. |
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| Summary: The “I Am” statements in the Gospel of John define who Jesus is. In this passage John the Baptist, a witness to the light, defines himself with a series of “I Am Not” statements. These should lead us to consider who we are and who we are not, and help us become better witnesses to the light. |
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| Summary: John the Baptist came to “witness to the light.” We have a similar task. This is a world invaded by far too much darkness. As Christ’s followers, let us announce that the darkness of the world can be overcome through the heavenly light which comes from Christ. |
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| Summary: The dove descended on Jesus, signaling to John that Jesus was the Son of God. John pointed out Jesus to his followers. They in turn told others. This is a model for us of discipleship and evangelism. |
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| Summary: We were astounded when a whole planet of scientists worked together to take the first photograph of a black hole. Perhaps as a planet-wide church, we can see the suffering in our midst that sinks into its own invisible black hole of despair. Jesus is the Word made flesh, In the light of the Word we may see clearly the sin-filled condition of the world and, like Jesus in the Gospel of John, reach out to all who suffer. |
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| Summary: John the Baptist introduced Jesus as the sacrificial Lamb of God who happens also to be the very Son of God. This is good news! |
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| Summary: We all have energy cycles throughout each day. Sometimes were up, sometimes we’re down. We may even be more susceptible to temptation during the low moments, but God’s grace and truth is much available in our downtimes as at any other point of the day. We should touch base with God at any hour, to keep our hearts in tune. |
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| Summary: In this passage, we are confronted by John’s witness to a “Lamb” who takes away, not individual sins, but the sin of the whole world. Where is that happening, in our world today?
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| Summary: John the Baptist pointed to the Savior as the Lamb of God. This is the same lamb from Revelation who not only bears the marks of slaughter, but also opens the door to salvation for the world. Follow in John’s footsteps. Bear witness to the world in word and deed that Jesus is the Lamb. |
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| Summary: Many of us have the opportunity to play a role similar to John’s in identifying and supporting the spark of godliness in another person and urging them to find their identity in the kingdom of God. Whenever we help people realize the gifts God has placed within them, we are doing a John-the-Baptist kind of thing. |
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| Summary: We all have energy cycles throughout each day. Sometimes were up, sometimes we’re down. We may even be more susceptible to temptation during the low moments, but God’s grace and truth is much available in our downtimes as at any other point of the day. We should touch base with God at any hour, to keep our hearts in tune. |
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| Summary: Jesus calls disciples to follow him. Jesus’ disciples then go out fully empowered to replicate Jesus’ pattern. The Gospel comes to us on its way to someone else. |
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