PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

In out-of-the-way places of the heart, Where your thoughts never think to wander, 

This beginning has been quietly forming, 

Waiting until you were ready to emerge. For a long time it has watched your desire, Feeling the emptiness growing inside you, 

Though your destination is not yet clear You can trust the promise of this opening; 

Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning That is at one with your life’s desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk; Soon you will home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

– John O’Donohue 

John 1:(1-9); 10-18 (NRSV)

The Word Became Flesh

[1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being ⁴ in him was life,and the life was the light of all people. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. ⁸ He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. ⁹ The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.]

¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. ¹¹ He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. ¹² But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”) ¹⁶ From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷ The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ 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.

In the middle of winter, it can seem like things are bleak.  The days are shorter, it’s cold and cloudy, (although it has not been cold again this winter…on the contrary, very warm…strange new weather patterns my friends…)  the sun doesn’t seem to shine as much.  Plus, in Cincinnati, we seem to get a lot of “in-between” weather.  Doesn’t really snow a lot, but still cold and wet.  We long for spring!  

In our lives this past year, we may have experienced things that have been bleak, dark, and we may have felt like we are in an “in-between place”, or a s threshold space, as well.  We may have been sensing that a change is necessary, we have longed for the warmth of hope, just as we may have longed for the hope of warm sunshine in the spring after a long winter.  Our days get shorter, we experience darkness as we move through the changing seasons.

The changing of seasons is a good metaphor for our worshipping community called Westwood First Presbyterian.  At times this past year, it has felt like it has been a place of searching and change.  As a collective group of persons, it seems like we have been in an “in-between” place even as we co-create new things and move forward.  We may fill like we are on our way towards something, but we are still incomplete, not fully there.  We have wanted to change and grow in new directions, we’ve had a new pastor, we’ve been working on what it means to be a “community engaged” church, we are experiencing new relationships coming into the building even as we go out into the neighborhood, and we have embarked on a mystical journey together towards a deeper understanding of God’s revelation inside and all around us.  All of this is good, we are moving towards something, people inside the church and outside have remarked that there’s something different at Westwood First (and they like it!!!), and even different in our own lives, but we are still in between and not yet fully where we are called to be…at a threshold.

The very definition of the “darkness” means to be in a state of dark, it is an abstract noun.  Yet, it does not mean that one is “dark”, just living in a state of darkness.  That “state” or existence can be changed.  

Try an experiment this week.  Go into a dark room.  Pause for a moment, take in the darkness, look into it.  Then turn on a light and notice the difference.  Notice the change.

Our identity as Jesus followers gives us hope for in the midst of darkness and change, Jesus says this in Matthew 4:16 quoting from Isaiah.  

the people who sat in darkness

    have seen a great light,

and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death

    light has dawned.”

Sitting in darkness can really be disorienting.  We feel lost, yet the darkness does point us toward a need for light.  We actually need both.  Light and darkness, and the threshold times in between light and dark.  It is in those times that something new is created.  It is interesting to me that the word, “word”, or “logos” in Greek, in our gospel lesson this morning actually translates as “creative energy”.  

In darkness, we cannot see others around us as we should.   We stumble around often in relationships and because we are not able to see, we experience a break in relationship from folks because of something we’ve done or said, or something that was done or said to us.  Or we simply grow apart over time.  We often sit in darkness and darkness often leads to brokenness which can feel like living in the shadow of death.  And, in the brokenness, new things emerge, or are able to emerge and to cause creativity and growth.  

None of us are competent or good enough to get through this life deal without experiencing darkness, lostness, or brokenness.  The difference is how much light we want shining on our lives to expose us in our darkness.  

Author, poet, philosopher, Parker Palmer, in his book,  Let Your Life Speak, talks about depression and darkness.  He states that we need to embrace our wholeness as persons in those dark moments, our shadows, look into them, and use them as times of understanding who we are, our true selves as Thomas Merton, the great catholic philosopher and mystic might say.  

Friends, like a thief in the night, we can let darkness overwhelm us, but that is not our identity, that is not our true selves, we may live in darkness, but there is a light in the depth of that darkness…and this great light has entered the world and our lives…actually, this great light has been in us all along…made in God’s image means that God put God’s self in us from the beginning…”in the beginning was the word, and the word…”. 

Jesus, the light of the world, entered into the neighborhood of our lives, became flesh and bone just like us.  God  makes God’s dwelling, with us!!!  In us!!!  All around us!  Jesus is a visible expression of that divine expression that encompasses us and invites us to the work of awareness to live into…

Jesus came to reveal to us what it means to live in the fullness of who we are called to be in our truest selves.  We have received grace upon grace, we are given new opportunity to reinvent ourselves, to experience rebirth even in the midst of the in-between times.  The light of Jesus is here, we may not always like what we see, it may cause us to ask deep questions, but the light does transform us and can bring us into places of beauty in our lives in our neighborhood, work, and even in our church!  

This light was the word made flesh, Jesus, who invites us into this sacred moment where we can catch glimpses of his glory and experience fullness with others and with God…and we too can shine as sons and daughters of God as the “word” is made flesh in us and makes it’s dwelling in us…