Thought for the Day – December 7-14 Second Week of Advent
These 'Thoughts' were written for our Church Community for this week. They are offered here for those who may find them helpful on their own day's journey.
Monday
John 1.1-2 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.”
Long before Bethlehem, God was at work in the creation of all that exists, by the power of His Word. When God speaks, things happen. The one who comes as the Christ child is the One for whom all things were made. The mystery of Christmas stretches from Bethlehem all the way back to the eternal purposes of God.
Tuesday
John 1.3 “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that was made.”
The child in the manger, is infant of Mary, and Lord of all. It takes time to let that sink in. The Creator becomes the creature, and the One who called all things into being, is born of human mother, in a remote over-crowded village amongst terrified shepherds, and with angels as a backing group. The One through whom all things exist, comes amongst us, his own existence hanging by the thread of human birth.
Wednesday
John 1.4 “In him was life, and that life was the light of all people.”
One of the fundamental conditions for life is light. Our planet depends on the sun. In the same way our human lives need light from the sun, but also light from the Son. Into the darkness of the world’s sin came the one who first commanded light to shine out of darkness. “Light of the world you stepped down into darkness…so here we are to worship…”
Thursday
John 1.5 “The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.”
“God is Light, and in him is no darkness at all” (I John 1. 6) No wonder darkness can’t understand light, just as sin cannot understand holiness, and hate has no conception of what love is. But read again what John says about the coming of Jesus: the light shines on, and on, and on, and no amount of darkness can extinguish it. The darker the darkness, the more visible the light.
Friday
John 1.11-12 “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”
It wasn’t only the overcrowded village, the full up hospitality, and Mary and Joseph at the end of the queue. Jesus came as the Saviour from sin into a sinful world. Of course he was unwanted and unwelcome by the powerful, those whose way of life he called into question. But to those who welcomed light into darkness, and love into the brokenness of the world, there came a new faith in the One who came as the Light of the world. And with that faith, the new place in the family of God.
Saturday
John 1.14. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Read that again, and let the grace and truth of those words sink slowly into your mind. The Word who called all things into being, becomes a human child. The almighty becomes vulnerable, the creator becomes the creature. Charles Wesley in one of his lesser known hymns describes the perplexing miracle of those words, "the Word became flesh":
Emptied of his majesty, of His dazzling glories shorn,
Beings Source begins to Be, and God himself is born!
Sunday
John 1.18 “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.”
The child’s question, “What is God like?” shouldn’t really be all that hard to answer. God is like Jesus. That’s what John is saying. Jesus himself said, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” Paul thought the same, “In Jesus all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.” (Colossians 2.9 RSV) The One who makes God known is the One who became flesh and lived amongst us. That is the profound mystery and miracle of Christmas.
Comments