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 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. Read The Rev. James Liggett's perspective on John's gospel in "The Same Story."
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.
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