Spiral of Christmas - John 1 - Christmas 2A

Spiral of Christmas

Tony E Hansen

Reflection for John 1:1-18, Psalm 147

Opening prayer

Happy Second Sunday of Christmas!

We read part of John’s prologue for Christmas, and today, we get to read more of that.

After seeing troops deployed to South America this weekend, don’t we need something to soothe anxiety?

There is plenty of poetic work here that establishes a mystical nature of God and Jesus. Something a little more than what we saw in Stranger Things.

I often read this part of the Gospel and see someone doing some circular motion with their hands. Or even seeing someone drawing in the sand a spiral, for as Barbara Brown Taylor tells us there is an altar in the world and it does not need walls.

You can witness parts of the Nicene Creed here. God from God, Light from Light. True God from true God, begotten not made.

Indeed the creed is based upon the Gospels.

Yet there is so much in here. 

We witness a light that shines. 

We witness testimony to the light and truth. 

We witness Word becoming flesh.

We witness someone full of grace and truth.

We witness God bursting into our world as God and Christ.

So the spiral grows and grows to encompass and include.

The spiral in the Word brings fulness and grace.

It brings the law through Moses and the opportunity to see and witness God through Jesus.

The spiral does not distinguish or limit who can. “The true light, which enlightens everyone… “

Yet there were and are people who will not know him. People would reject.

Yet when we receive him into our hearts, we are granted so much.

The Psalmist tells God guards us, blesses us and grants peace with plenty to eat.

God sends out the word and that word became flesh. 

So this spiral does not trap us as an elaborate labyrinth or keep us too busy to reach out. It does not isolate us from people or the world but instead, extends our being, our senses, in unique ways.

In fact, it encourages us to reach out and reach up. Through the Word, we are encouraged to live a life that honors God in our world, in our midst, in our very being as children of God “who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.”

“We have all received grace upon grace” and truth.

The cosmos is around us and full of grace!

Jesus came to us to reveal who we truly are and what we can become when we let God shine through us, through our words, through our actions.

Grace didn’t just show up and leave. Truth didn’t one day just disappear.

God is here. God is working now and working in you. 

Are you willing to witness this and let God work through you?

I suppose we could look at watches and calendars, well I can fit God in at 2:00 on Friday. Oh wait that is when the plumber is showing up!  How about Saturday or sometime next week… really?

Like Rusty in Christmas Vacation after Clark asks if they checked all the lights “look at the time, gotta get to bed, …brush my teeth, feed the hog, homework to do, bills to pay and wash the car…” 

We make many excuses for why: time, money, health, “feeding the hog” or plenty of other distractions, but God is still here. Our lives are full of these and more. 

Some boast that they have all they need and flaunt all they have amassed. Never give thanks. Never give an ounce of recognition for those around them that have helped them get where they are. Never recognize that all that we have is a gift from God and can go away in an instant. We might read this Gospel and say that this is not for me.

Some of us turn inward, withdraw and isolate. Being an introvert, it can feel easier to do this. How comforting that personal bubble must feel. Those walls feel safe. We might even read this and see ourselves in the swirl getting dizzy.

Whether we are introverts or not, both are avoiding truths. We are creating distractions to numb senses and to “calm” anxiety. 

Yet, we are missing opportunities. Ultimately, we are missing the point.

That God is breathing life into this world and into you. God has a mission for you, and it isn’t for swagger nor to hide ourselves.

We have a mission to live with God in our hearts, to provide and to share God’s grace. We have a vision for us that is beyond our comprehension and our meager materials or physical bodies.  

God breaks forth into this world for us -> for us to let go of that material and those distractions. Word became flesh, and through you, God can do wonders!

Perhaps if we let go of those excuses, we might see more of what God has for us. 

I may be a dot in the universe, and I am not sure where I am in the swirl of all things, but I am here. 

Nevertheless, let go and feel that God is here. 

Through my connection to the world through God, there is so much more. Through our connection to God and thus to each other, there is something mystical, reassuring, loving and calming beyond anything we can describe.

Through me and you, we are the work of Christ, we embody the Word that says to love without judgment, to forgive without distinction, to provide grace to those in need.

That Beloved is why the Word became flesh, to reveal God’s presence and God’s grace for you and for me.

That spiral of Christmas is part of the promise of Christmas!

May God be with our troops and with the people caught in the crosshairs.

For that we say

Thanks Be to God.