First Sunday after Christmas

Sunday, Dec. 30, 2018

Year (cycle): A, B & C

Gospel: John 1:1-18

Easterday

One of the most powerful parts of my life as a priest is that sometimes I get to say words that make things happen. In grammar, this is called performative speech because the words perform the deed. For example, in the Eucharistic prayer, I say, “Sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.” Those words set that particular bread and wine apart as holy so that when we eat it, we receive Jesus and experience His presence.

The spoken word conveys great power. The connection between the word and the thing signified by that word cannot be broken. Our Gospel today takes us back to a time before words, when there was only one Word (capital W). “In the beginning was the Word.”

John’s Gospel begins at the beginning, the same place as the book of Genesis. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis, chapter 1 tells us that God spoke and the world came into existence. God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light. John talks about that same spoken Word of God. “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God … All things came into being through him.” (John 1:1,3) Then John tells us that God’s spoken Word became a human being named Jesus. (John 1:14, 16, 17) “And the Word became flesh and lived among us … From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace …  grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” John goes on to tell us that we can know what God looks like and what God sounds like when we see and hear Jesus. John wrote, “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.” (John 1:18)

I like to think of the opening lines of John’s Gospel as God’s love song to us. It tells us that God created the whole world out of His love. The song tells us that His purpose for our lives is to become children of God and receive His grace.

So what is this grace that God desires to give us? If acronyms are helpful to you, then the letters in grace stand for God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. In other words, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we receive all the benefits of a child of God. Grace is the free gift of God’s love. We don’t deserve it. We cannot earn it. God simply chooses to give us His love freely; that is grace.

One of the chief reasons that the church exists is to be an instrument of God’s grace – to be the hands and feet of Jesus in the business of generously giving away the grace that has been given to us.

Words have power. Kind words convey kindness. Loving words convey love. The Word of God sings life and love into the chaos of our world. Listen to God sing this love song to you today.

“In the beginning was the Word… And the Word became flesh and lived among us… From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.”

– The Rev. Pamela Easterday is co-rector of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Melbourne.