There is a choice to made every year as to what lessons are to be heard on Christmas day. Do we follow the Lukan narrative of shepherds and inns or do we immerse ourselves in thinking hard about what the incarnation means to us through that obscure and difficult reading from John. Not many will elect John, simply because a) they do not want to get it 'wrong' and b) it is too much work to tread the boards of obscure theological thinking at this time of year. However, given the events of the past few weeks perhaps it is best for us to entertain a deeper understanding of the underpinnings of incarnation in our lives rather than the ephemeral look at inns and shepherds.
The beginning of John's gospel links back to the start of the Hebrew texts in Genesis drawing our attention to both a new beginning and also to God's power in creation. Whilst it is not apparent as such in the first passage that power, we quickly come to understand, is the power of love. New beginnings are for us spaces of tension and anxiety which often leads to rejection and division. This is clearly enunciated by John when he writes that Christ is not accepted within the community to which he comes and the world which was created in love by God. In Genesis the beginning is out of chaos and unformed void from which the cooperative power of God entices a new and powerful beginning. The formation of newness in John results in chaos and rejection from that which was formed by God.
Our present epoch of consumerism and selfishness continues to create the formless chaos and division that that brings. It is almost as if we are unwinding the creation story by our presence and unending needs based understanding of the world. This is the same world or rather an ever burgeoning intensification of the world into which Christ becomes incarnate. Up to the point of Christ's birth God has given an indication of humanity's consistent dwelling on the self through the wisdom of the prophets and the earlier writings of history and poetry. Now in Christ's incarnation we are able to perceive a model of God's intentions in creation yet we are still unable to move away from the chaos of our own intentions. The human emotions that bespell our everyday lives through greed, power and fame. Believing ourselves as being beyond authority and condemnation we continue to recreate our own downfall. This can clearly be seen in recent public humiliation of figures who thought they were beyond it all.
This perhaps is the important point of our celebration today. In God's incarnation amongst the people we begin to be enticed away from the chaos of our own making. Just as in Genesis God entices through love the formation of creation, God now entices us through Christ into the way that leads us towards the meaning of love that is centred in creation. It is only when we begin to cooperate within our societies that we begin to create the meaning of love in the world. Once we realise this cooperative effort we begin to be enticed away from our chaotic behaviours towards a real change in our lives and those of our communities. Communities that suffer as a result of disassociation, envy, pride, angst, depression and the harbouring of ill will towards others among many other negative feelings have the opportunity to see a new way that leads to new life following the death of our old lives.
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