Merry Christmas

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 

He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him. But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God.

And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-5, 9-14)

Merry Christmas!  We celebrate the birth of the Christ child who we claim is the Word and is God.  That’s a marvelous claim made clear to us through the Gospel of John and his first passage that focuses on divinity.

Words have power.  They are a means of communication, and Jesus is God’s communication to human beings.  Consider Jesus’s commandments and the way he lived as models for our behavior.

Words can calm a frightened child or start a war.  They can move one to friendship or anger.  A word can give life when hope has died and when a heart is cold.  Words can be kind and merciful, loving and forgiving, just and understanding.  

Today we celebrate that the Word became flesh and still dwells among us.  Do we mirror the Word as required?  Or, have we acted like erasers on a piece of paper removing the Word from our presence?  When we are unkind and unmerciful, cruel and unforgiving, unjust and refuse to understand, we are erasers.

Especially today, let’s write the right words we hope to be everlasting.  Let's start with "love."

Deacon David Pierce