God pitches a tent... and is with us always

Scripture: Jeremiah 31:7-14 or Sirach 24:1-12  •  Psalm 147:12-20 or Wisdom of Solomon 10:15-21  •  Ephesians 1:3-14  •  John 1:(1-9), 10-18

This second week of Christmas, we read another account of the Christ coming into our world. This time it is not as a babe in a manger with shepherds and wise men. In the first chapter of the gospel of John, we are presented with a cosmic account being with God from the very beginning. He is the Word made flesh. God tabernacled in the flesh in Jesus, and chose to live with us, and within us.

Moses was not allowed to see God. He hid in the cleft of a rock while God passed. God was not in the fire, the wind, or the quake of the earth. He was to be found in the sound of sheer silence, or as Father Paul Bresnahan would tell us, in the "daughter of a sound." Jesus told his disciples that "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father." And he told us he is always with us. What is it to see a "Permanent Glimpse of God," as The Rev. Dr. Thomas Lane Butts tells us?

The Rev. Dr. Janet H. Hunt tells us that the Fourth Gospel, the Gospel of John, tells us that in the life of Jesus, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The English word “to dwell” is derived from a Greek word that literally means to “pitch a tent.” Though not particularly poetic, the Gospel of John actually reads, “The Word became flesh and pitched a tent among us.” What does pitching a tent among us, tabernacling with us mean? Consider The Rev. Dr. Hunt's "And pitched a tent among us..." and add your thoughts.