way-yo-mer Elohim - - yə·hî !!!
Sermon or homily in Holy Nativity Episcopal Church, Panama City, Florida on the First Sunday after Christmas Day, December 29, 2019, the Rev Tom Weller. Gospel and texts, Genesis 1:1f and John 1:1-18.
In the beginning was the Word: thy strong Word didst cleave the darkness. I shall speak of the conversation between God and creation. You may be seated.
בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים
beresheet baRa Elohim
In the beginning God created - - the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים
wa-Ru-ach Elohim
And the Spirit of God moved over churning chaos.
וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יְהִי
way-yo-mer Elohim - - yə·hî
And God said “Let there be”.And all that God SAID, it was so. Way-yo-mer. And Said. Spoke. Logos. Word. Has Spoken. Speaking. Eternally Speaks.
Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was WITH God, and God was the Word. The Word was in the beginning with God. All things were made through the Word, and without the Word was not anything made that was made.
The Word: Greek, Logos, the conceiving, moving force In, With, Over, Under, Before, Behind, Within, As, and the Future Of - - all that is, seen and unseen -- Logos, the triggering power of the Big Bang.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ
The only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father …
Through him, all things were made:
Way-yo-mer Elohim - -
And God SAID. Logos, the Word of God, the Voice of God speaking. God the Voice. God the Very Thought of Being. Way-yo-mer Elohim - - yə·hî !!!
In the beginning was the Logos and the Logos was WITH God, and the Logos WAS God. All things were made through the Logos, and without the Logos was not anything made that was made. … And the Logos became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten Son of the Father. … 16 And from his fulness have we all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ, God the Logos.
Mark, Matthew and Luke give us earthy stories about Jesus, including the wonderful Nativity stories from Luke and Matthew. Gospel John gives us a theology of the Creating God who brings all that is into existence through Logos the Word, God spoke, God speaks, God speaking, Jesus Christ: yə·hî - - Let there BE.
In C S Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, Aslan the Christ figure, from utter darkness SINGS a new creation into its dawning.
If you look out into the night sky through an astronomical telescope, you get a glimpse of the significance of what Gospel John asserts for Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus Christ, Logos the Word: way-yo-mer Elohim - - yə·hî !!
No metaphor is adequate for the incomprehensible, so we tell stories that make God real for us, bring God present to us. Visualize it this way ->
Eternally preexistent, before Time & Space, Adonai Elohim, Logos, Ruach, at the gate of heaven, on the precipice of eternity, holding a basket of dots, each dot infinitesimally small and infinitely heavy. Standing there facing the pitch blackness that is nothing, not even empty space, God reaches into the basket, takes out a single dot, and tosses that dot out into the void, shouting “yə·hî”, “let there be” and instantly a burst of light that is still expanding today, nearly 14 billion earth years later, Logos the Word speaks into existence a universe. In human Time, that same Logos, Word, will become flesh and dwell among us, as one of us, Jesus of Nazareth.
Where Christianity is a religion of stories, Gospel John’s story - - not the Cross of Calvary, not the Manger of Bethlehem, but Gospel John and the Logos, is the basic story of Christianity.
Like a kindergarten Show & Tell time, Elohim the Creating God, who from the burning bush introduced himself to Moses as y'VAH, I AM, comes, comes as YeSous, God Saves, Immanuel, God with us, to show us that the Way of the Cross is the Way of Life. The Way of the Cross: a life of Love and Sacrifice. Of putting self aside and living for others, the life of Jesus of Nazareth, a life of lovingkindness, even unto Calvary’s Hill.
This is what we celebrate at Christmas, our annual observance honoring the Logos, the Second Person of the Trinity, the One who in the Beginning said yə·hî, and here we are - - not knowing how to behave ourselves, not knowing how to love God, not knowing how to love neighbor, and so the Logos comes to say You are created in God’s image. Watch me, Listen to me, and learn how to live into the godliness that is your created destiny.
Christ is born, Immanuel, God with us. The kingdom is come, your sins are nothing, get up, put on Christ, laugh and dance, Merry Christmas!
+++++++++++
Sermon or homily in Holy Nativity Episcopal Church, Panama City, Florida on the First Sunday after Christmas Day, December 29, 2019, the Rev Tom Weller. Gospel and texts, Genesis 1:1f and John 1:1-18.
Again, never published pridefully, but solely to keep a standing promise to a dear friend.
TW+