Creekside Church Sermon of January 2, 2000 "In the Beginning, The Word" John 1:1-18	Rev. David Bibbee
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With this kind of chaos going on I could hardly be expected to concentrate on sermon writing, for goodness sakes. Then I thought, it would be just my luck not to have prepared a sermon and have the new millenium start as smooth as leaves blowing in the wind. So I wrote a just-in-case sermon...just in case.

It is only natural at the start of a new year, a new century, and a new millenium to think about beginnings. There has been said so much looking back and reflecting upon the most influential person of the century, the greatest leader, athlete, entertainer, discovery and achievement.

Today I want you to reflect with me about beginnings. But where does the beginning begin? People say that life begins with Jesus, but where did Jesus begin? While the afterglow of Christmas lingers, most would say his beginning was his birth in Bethlehem. But like Mark, John has no Christmas story. Not one angel, shepherd, or wise man. John doesn't say Jesus' life began at birth or conception. John takes us much further back...back even before God began creating the heavens and the earth.

In the beginning was the Word. This is how John begins his gospel. Long before Jesus was Jesus, he was the Word. He was with God before earth received its frame; before the twinkling starry hosts were formed; before the big bang, there was the Word. With God, the Word created something from nothing; light where once there was utter darkness. All that has life and breath was made through Him. There is nothing, seen or unseen, that did not come into being through God and the Word. Life is no grand accident. It was fashioned according to a plan and purpose and we have a place in it. God and the Word wanted so much to be with us that they gave light and life to draw us out of the darkness.

God kept looking for ways to get this message across...a beautiful earth teeming with life and heavens spangled with stars, but that didn't do it. God had to do it in a way that made Himself real, not remote. One author wrote, "God tried to say it in Noah, but he was a drinking man. God tried to say it in Abraham, but he was too Mesopotamian with all those wives and whiskers. And Moses worked too hard and David was too pretty for his own good. He tried saying it in John the Baptist and he almost worked, but he lacked something, like a balanced diet. Then God did the inconceivable."

Over Sunday dinner, a mother asked her 8 year-old son, "What did you learn in Sunday school today?" "We studied Moses and the Israelites and how they escaped from Pharaoh's army." "Really? Tell me the story," his mother said. "Well, as Moses was leading Israel out of Egypt, Pharaoh changed his mind and decided to stop Moses. So he ordered a battalion of tanks from the north, fighter jets from the south and a fleet of battleships from the Red Sea." "Wait a minute," his mother said. "Do you expect me to believe a story like that?" He thought for a moment and said, "No, but if I told you what my teacher really said, you wouldn't believe that, either."

Whoever would have believed that God would become flesh and blood? The Israelites believed God's glory was so awesome that to see Him would mean instant death. But in Jesus, the Word that was before time itself became flesh and pitched his tent among us. St. Paul said, "In him, the fullness of God was pleased to dwell." All of the qualities of God were concentrated in him. Jesus was God's way of saying, "I am happy to be here with you." "And we have beheld his glory..." Not a glory that would kill or cause you to faint with fear. You could look into his eyes and see grace and truth and love.

I have heard that the expressions on the faces of those who cared for us when we were just weeks old shaped the way we experience the world. A smiling reassuring face conveys something far different than an angry or blank expression. Since our early experiences in life also fashion our view of God, maybe it's no wonder the Bible speaks of seeking God's face. Two of the most frequent expressions in the Psalms are, "Make your face to shine upon us," and "Do not hide your face from us."

The Word became flesh, what was once hidden was revealed. The Word had a face and a voice. Of course I am talking about something here that is beyond the power of language to express. Words cannot grasp the mystery of the word made flesh. We also must remember that the Word is not synonymous with words.

When we think about words, we think of what makes up language and speech. An old Jewish proverb says: "Words are so powerful they should only be used to bless, to heal, and to prosper." We also know that words can be hollow. Words can deceive. Words are what we often hide behind, such as when the President tried to cover his relationship with a White House intern saying, "It all depends on what the definition of 'is,' is." Sometimes we employ words to make us seem like something we're not.

The film "Good Will Hunting" is about a tough young man who had lived a hard life. For a living he mopped the floors at MIT. With his three friends he led a go-nowhere, do-nothing existence and had numerous run-ins with the law. One of the math professors had challenged his students to solve an incredibly complex math theorem. Whoever solved it would be assured of instant celebrity status. As Will mopped one day beneath the chalkboard, he looked at the theorem. In no time he had solved it. This hardened thug was a genius...a kind the world rarely sees. His mind was a sponge, absorbing everything he read on any subject. The scholars marveled at what he could do. Some resented him, knowing he was more intelligent than they were.

But despite Will's genius, he was miserable. He was full of information, but little knowledge. He knew something about everything, but very little through experience. Will's therapist exposed Will's problem. "You've never been outside the city your whole life. You don't know what it's like to hold the head of a dying friend in your arms. You are a genius, you know all the right words, but you don't know what it means to live. You don't trust enough to let someone love you much less you love anyone else."

The Word that became flesh is so different. It is not just speech. The Hebrews didn't consider words as just words. The term "dabar" means word and deed. They believed that when a word was spoken, it was already a reality...something that was as good as done. God said, "Let there be light," and so it was. Jesus said to the lame man, "Pick up your bed and walk," and he did. Lazarus had been dead in a tomb four days, and Jesus cried, "Come out!" and Lazarus did. Jesus said, "The Son of Man would rise on the third day," and so he did.

The Word became flesh and lived among us full of grace and truth. Everything we really need to know about God we have seen in Jesus. In verse 19 I noticed the words, "And this was the testimony of John..." It brought back the testimony of my son John when he was four years old and during supper said, "I know what God looks like, Dad." "Oh, really?" "Yeah, he looks just like Jesus."

"No one has ever seen God," John's Gospel says. It is God, the only Son who is close to the Father's heart, who has made Him known.

Emily Dickinson wrote, "A word is dead when it is said, some say. I say it just begins to live that day." God's Word isn't just a word. In Jesus word and deed go together. So let's not turn the incarnation back into words. Let's not reduce it to a feeble sermon or an interesting topic for Sunday school discussion. Barbara Brown Taylor says that it is our incarnate words which God loves to hear...not just our speech, but the entire grammar of our lives.

The Word that became incarnate in Jesus, should be incarnate in each of us. Saint Francis, who lived a life of obedience to Christ that few if any could ever match, once said to his followers, "By all means preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words."

May God give us from His fullness, grace upon grace so we might become doers of the Word and not hearers only. And may the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts, and the service we render with our lives, be acceptable in God's sight.

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