The Christ Child, the bringer of peace, the bringer of righteousness and justice is born once more. It is as we celebrate this day that we acknowledge the Christ that is present in us all. Yet, it is more than that for the reading from John's gospel, which many avoid because it is not Christmassy, brings and important depth to our celebrations this day. John's gospel has a great theological depth and is the most recent of the Gospels that are included in the canon. The passage at the beginning that we read today takes us back to the beginning of our scriptures in Genesis 1. In doing so we tie both the beginning and the end together into one cohesive all and fathom the depths of God's love for his creation both human and other.
From the passage at the beginning of John (Jn 1:1-5) we can see that the incarnate word was present at the start of creation when stability was brought into being from the chaosomos that was present. Words have power over creation and over life. In the modern setting that seems to bring to the fore images of 'magic' rather than images of faith. Yet, for the people of John's time and for those that came after the descriptive words contain truth. The word became flesh as a reality in our time. The incarnation is about the inexpressible becoming expressible in our daily lives. For us today, we feel that mere words cannot convey for us a reality beyond a mere description unless we have the eyes of a child and can accept such things like a child. Our modernity has put a large number of filters in our way that prevents us from seeing the truth of the presence of God in the child born in Bethlehem.
Faith and those things that are a part of belief in something beyond ourselves has been confined by our own understanding of the world. At the time that John wrote these words at the beginning of the gospel there was a link that was forged between what was written and the faith that each person lived out in the reality of the world. The reminder of God's presence at the beginning of time in bringing order out of a chaotic situation to create rather than to bring destruction. This reminder is applied to the Christ for us to take up the understanding in our lives, our believe, that God brings creation out of the disorder that is our current life. The incarnation of God's word lets us know and become aware that our thoughts and our insights are nothing compared to the creative ability that God gives to us by God's presence in our lives. The present is God's gift to us and we need to see that gift as being something creative in our lives. However, like spoilt children we often discard the gift that has been given as we hanker after the offerings of the world rather than the love that is found in community and family.
It is the acceptance of the gift that is displayed by the youngest child that is of importance for us in how we look to the future. It is with the eyes of one who has not been tainted by the world that we need to view our world. This is what will allow us to perceive the grace and hope that is present in the incarnation. No child below a certain age can see what the adult perceives to be a dangerous and suspicious world but rather they see something that is filled with wonder and love. We, the adults, are the ones that challenge this view and turn it into a perception of hostility at every turn. It is only when we can see with the eyes of child will we begin once more to see as Christ in the midst of a world torn apart by our own prejudices. It is only when we can see and perceive the world as a place filled with mystery and love will we begin to bring peace into our societies. It is only when we see with childlike love that we will begin to repair the brokenness of the world that is torn apart by personal greed. It sounds simple does it not. It is simple and perhaps that is our problem to overcome. It is TOO simple for the complexity that has been the makeup of our lives in the modern age. I saw an ad on FB recently that was a plea for vaccines to be sent to Africa. It encompassed the greed and the hoarding that is to the detriment of the world as it spoke of COVID from the perspective of 2025 (6 years in) and the destruction of society because of our selfishness as nations and as people of God. As we welcome the Christ Child this day may we who follow Christ and remember that our own lives are nothing compared to the lives of our neighbours. That it is through love that we can change the world we live in.
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