Christmas Presence: Light in the Darkness


It's the time of year for Christmas TV shows and movies!  Lots of them talk about "the true meaning of Christmas."  But hardly any of them present the true meaning of Christmas!  One of the few ones that does is "A Charlie Brown Christmas," that premiered in 1965.  I watched it on our black and white TV.  Even then, I was impressed with the scene in which Linus steps on the stage and recites the Christmas story from Luke.  

This doesn't mean other specials don't have good points about Christmas.  Who doesn't laugh at "Christmas Vacation"?  Who doesn't get a lump in their throat when they sing "Auld Lang Syne" at the end of "It's a Wonderful Life"?  Still, they present a hollowed out Christmas, a Christmas without its essential meaning.

This week, we begin our worship teaching unit "Christmas Presence: God with Us."  In this unit, we're going to learn the true true meaning of Christmas by exploring John 1:1-18.  Our first message comes from the first five verses of that chapter, and meditates on "Light in the Darkness."

While Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John begin by presenting Jesus' birth, early years, and/or forerunners, John begins with a hymn.  This hymn looks to the eternal past, the time before time, and speaks of the Word, that was with God, and was God.  Later in the chapter (v. 14), John identifies the Word as Jesus of Nazareth.  He tells us that as the eternal Christ, Jesus existed in the eternal past, and was God's instrument of creation.

John says that as light, the Word shines in the darkness of this broken world, and the darkness has not overcome him.  Darkness tried its best to end Jesus.  In fact, when Jesus was crucified, it looked like it had been successful!  But God resurrected him, and his light shines to this day.

In this Christmas season, we can spread the light of its true meaning: God sent his Word to bring life and light to his broken creation in the person of Jesus, who was born in Bethlehem.  We can also live by the light of Christ, doing the things he did, and saying the things he said.



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