The cosmic pre-existence of the Word of God - 1/3/2021

 

Call to worship:

L: God’s word runs swiftly to the ends of the earth! It carries glad tidings of creation’s rebirth! 

P: Let us enter the new age, Let us turn to the light, Let us build a new earth, Let us celebrate new life!

L: We arrive in a garden where suffering shall fade! Proclaim the goodness of all God has made!

A: Let us enter the new age, let us turn to the light, let us build a new earth, let us celebrate new life!

Opening Hymn:   Hail to the Lord’s Anointed   #203

1. Hail to the Lord's Anointed,
great David's greater Son!
Hail in the time appointed,
his reign on earth begun!
He comes to break oppression,
to set the captive free;
to take away transgression,
and rule in equity.

2. He comes with succor speedy
to those who suffer wrong;
to help the poor and needy,
and bid the weak be strong;
to give them songs for sighing,
their darkness turn to light,
whose souls, condemned and dying,
are precious in his sight.

3. He shall come down like showers
upon the fruitful earth;
love, joy, and hope, like flowers,
spring in his path to birth.
Before him, on the mountains,
shall peace, the herald, go,
and righteousness, in fountains,
from hill to valley flow.

4. To him shall prayer unceasing
and daily vows ascend;
his kingdom still increasing,
a kingdom without end.
The tide of time shall never
his covenant remove;
his name shall stand forever;
that name to us is love.

Opening Prayer:   

In the beginning was your Glory. It covered the earth like a mist, hovering in the valleys and hiding the peaks of the mountains. It watered the gardens of the lands, bringing forth the grain, the wine, and the oil. It ran in the beds of the rivers, laughing over the stones and catching the happy tears of the sky.

The Glory was life, and Life came to dwell among us, but we have not received it. Now the valleys are sinking into the seas, and the mountains are toppling into the plains. The wheat is withering in the field, and the grapes are shriveling on the vine. The rivers are running dry, and, as laughter dies, the sky can cry no more.

O Lord, the world cannot live without you. Come among us as before. As it was in the beginning, let it be now; a world without end.

Epistle Reading:  Ephesians 1: 3-14

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴ just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. ⁵ He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace ⁸ that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight ⁹ he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, ¹⁰ as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 

¹¹ In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, ¹² so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. ¹³ In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; ¹⁴ this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.

Children's Message (video)

Hymn:  The First Noel    #245

1 The first Noel the angel did say
was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay;
in fields where they lay keeping their sheep,
on a cold winter's night that was so deep.

Refrain:
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,
born is the King of Israel.

2 They looked up and saw a star
shining in the east, beyond them far;
and to the earth it gave great light,
and so it continued both day and night.
(Refrain)

3 And by the light of that same star
three Wise Men came from country far;
to seek for a king was their intent,
and to follow the star wherever it went. [Refrain]

4 This star drew nigh to the northwest,
o'er Bethlehem it took its rest;
and there it did both stop and stay,
right over the place where Jesus lay. [Refrain]

5 Then entered in those Wise Men three,
full reverently upon the knee,
and offered there, in his presence,
their gold and myrrh and frankincense. [Refrain]

Prayer of Dedication:

Long have we been in exile, O Lord; long have we been lost from the land of our birth. By the rivers of strange cities, the cities of our enemies, we have sat down and wept, remembering that place where despair was a stranger. But now we are the strangers in a strange land, and mocking waters flow quietly by, undisturbed by our troubles.

And yet, we shall sing the Lord’s song, even in this foreign land. We shall bring praise to God who has seen us through so much and will see us through forever.  Amen.

Gospel Reading:   John 1: 1-18 

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.

Sermon Title:    The cosmic pre-existence of the Word of God (video)

In the beginning….what a way to start the new year. In the beginning is a statement of intention; an announcement if you will, that something important began and is still working. And that is what we know about the Word of God, that it was in the beginning and it is still going strong.

As we begin the Gospel of John, we see this intentional statement about the Word of God and all things that exist. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” This text explains that the Word of God (the eternal Word) is the Light and Life of all creation. We must realize, however, that in this message, the “beginning” is not a particular event in time like Jesus’ birth as in the Gospels of Mathew and Luke or the start of Jesus’ ministry as in the Gospel of Mark. Instead, the beginning is outside the normal calculations of time, in the cosmic pre-existence of the Word with God. This beginning focuses the reader’s attention immediately on the meaning of what follows – the Gospel story. For the Gospel story is about the very character of God and how He makes Himself known to the world through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ.

The words “in the beginning” recall the story of creation in Genesis, but point to a time before the creation of the world. It begins outside the limits of time and place, but eventually does move into the time-bound world.

As we move on through the verses, we see and understand that nothing came into being without the Word of God; without God speaking it and making it so. This is hard for some people to take in because they depend on themselves instead of God. They want to believe that somewhere in time, there was a huge explosion in the vastness of space and suddenly, we were all here; on this planet that sustained us. It gave us the air that we needed to breathe, the water that we needed to drink and the food that we needed to eat. It provided each of these things with the weather and the soil and the willingness of His creation to abide by the Word that God spoke.

But as wise and strong and dependable as we like to think we are, we were never meant to do any of this alone. God promised to always be with us and He gave us rules that we were supposed to live by. (Yes, there are those who don’t like rules, but in order for everyone to not only survive, but thrive together, we must have them).

The message goes on to let us know that the One who created it all was coming into the world and “in Him was life, and the life was the light of all people.” This was the foretelling of Jesus coming into the world on the behalf of God for the people of God. This is John the Baptist telling everyone that Jesus, the One whose sandals he isn’t even worthy of untying, is coming to save the world and all of God’s creations; all of us.

The most telling sentence in this whole message, I believe, is that “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.” This is John telling the people that Jesus, the light of the world, is coming into the world to absolve us of our sins and to reconcile us back with God the Father. 

The Gospel of John does not begin with the story of the Baby in the manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes and adored by His mother, Mary, the angels and shepherds and now the kings from foreign lands that came to bring Him gifts. John’s story begins with “In the beginning.” John wanted to make sure that people were listening and would turn to the “light” that was coming. He even told them that he was not the light, he was simply a witness to the light and it is through his witness that people are able to know the presence of God through Jesus Christ.

Psalm 145: 4 states – “One generation shall laud your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.”

In other words, each person, as they themselves become aware of God through the acts of His Son Jesus the Christ, are to tell the story to the next generation…and so on…and so on…and so on…

The Word (God) became flesh over two thousand years ago and still lives today. Jesus, the light of the world, came to us so that we would be enlightened. 

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not (and will not ever) overcome it.” Amen.

Closing Hymn:  Go, Tell It on the Mountain   #251

Refrain:
Go, tell it on the mountain,
over the hills and everywhere;
go, tell it on the mountain,
that Jesus Christ is born.

1 While shepherds kept their watching
o'er silent flocks by night,
behold throughout the heavens
there shown a holy light. (Refrain)

2 The shepherds feared and trembled,
when lo! above the earth,
rang out the angel chorus
that hailed the Savior’s birth. (Refrain)

3 Down in a lowly manger
the humble Christ was born,
and God sent us salvation
that blessed Christmas morn. (Refrain)