Biblical Text: John 1:1-14

(The video recording of our Christmas service is here. The sermon begins at 23:50.)

Merry Christmas! It’s finally here. After 4 weeks of Advent the wait is over. I was here for the midnight service last night, and I always love that moment when you finally get to sing the last verse of “O Come All ye Faithful.”

“Yea, Lord we greet thee, born this happy morning,
Jesus to thee be glory given
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing…”

It’s such a wonderful end to a hymn. And there’s a fittingness to it isn’t there? We’ve been waiting for this moment for 4 weeks.

So, advent is officially over, and Christmas has begun. Beginnings are important. Let’s take a few moments to consider some well known beginnings. Maybe you can shout out if you recognise them…*

“It is a truth universally acknowledged…”
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”
“In a hole in the ground there lived a ….”

Ok, a couple just for the kids.
“In the light of the moon, a little egg lay on a leaf…”
“Mr and Mrs Dursley of Number Four, Privet Drive, were very proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.”

Many of these words and phrases have become so well known that we hear them now and immediately we know where we are. We are transported into that world, and we know what to expect.

Let’s try one more,
“In the beginning…”

Ah! But now we don’t know where we are do we? We’ve heard those words read out this morning…but we recognise them from somewhere else…

The Hebrew Scriptures, what we commonly call the Old Testament, also start with those words (or word, if we’re reading in Hebrew). We hear “in the beginning,” and we hear it from both John and the book of Genesis, the story of creation. And that’s what would have come to mind for those hearing John speak. John writes those words, knowing full well what they mean for his hearers. He is connecting what has happened in the birth of Jesus, with the very beginning of creation.

John is showing the enormity of what has happened in the birth of Jesus. This God who created the world, this God who called Abraham, this God who shepherded his people Israel, this God who spoke through Isaiah and the prophets, this God who is glimpsed in his creation, this God has come down to earth, and has dwelt among us. And this God, this Word, was the light, come to dispel darkness, come to call us to him, that we might become children of God.

Beginnings matter. They help us to know where we are, they help us to understand the world we inhabit, and they help us build on a sure foundation.

This beginning is far better than any other I know. Today we celebrate the birth of Christ himself: In him we find our foundation, through him we understand the world he has created, and because of him we know both where we are, and where we’re going. In Christ we find our beginning.

Amen.

(*Answers: Pride and Prejudice, A Tale of Two Cities, The Hobbit, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone)