Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος

The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through the Word, and without the Word was not anything made that was made.. What has come into being in the Word is life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. … The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 

The Word was in the world, and the world came into being through the Word; yet the world knew him not. He came to his own, and his own received him not. But to all who receive him, who believe on his name, he gives power to become children of God - - born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the human will, but of God. 

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of a father’s only begotten son, full of grace and truth. 

The Gospel of the Lord!

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Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος - in the beginning was the Word. So lyrics, a hymn: “Thy strong word did cleave the darkness, at thy speaking it was done”.

Just as Sunday Advent Four and Christmas Day about Mary and Jesus were Places of the Heart, today, the First Sunday after Christmas Day, is a theology Sunday, a Place of the Head, the Mind, when we read and hear the Prologue to John’s Gospel, and comprehend it not:

In the beginning was the λόγος, and the λόγος was WITH God, and the λόγος WAS God. The λόγος was in the beginning with God. All things were made through the λόγος, and without the λόγος was not anything made that was made. And the λόγος became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth: Jesus Christ the λόγος, the Word of God, Word Incarnate, Man Divine. 

The Athanasian Creed says it’s “incomprehensible”. What’s it all about?

What it’s all about is Gospel John identifying and uniting ancient philosophical reasoning - - the concept of λγος - - reason, creative ignition and prime mover, the generative principle of the universe that brought all things into being and keeps them going - - Gospel John perceives, identifies, unites, personifies, names that λόγος of philosophical reasoning as the human person Jesus of Bethlehem, Nazareth, Capernaum, Jerusalem. 

Gospel John’s prologue about λόγος God the Word, is tied to the Genesis One seven-day creation story, which is not astronomy - - not cosmological science in an age when Hubble, and now the James Webb Space Telescope, ascends into the heavens to peer billions upon billions of light years into distance and past, even approaching the λόγος "Let There Be" ye-HI of the Big Bang - - Genesis One and John One, are neither science,

nor are they meant to be literal, inerrant churchy dogma, status confessionis where faith and the integrity of the gospel are at stake - - but rather they are holy stories asserting that God is Origin; and that humans are central to God’s will, and God’s plan, for the Earth. 

The creation holy story is that in the beginning, God created all things by Word alone, by speaking: the will and power of the Word of God, who sets the divine plan into motion by λόγος - - which, again, is Word, Reason, Force - - in God’s native Hebrew language, the command “ye-HI” - - 

ye-HI: BE. Let there BE. And it was so and IS so. 

Ancient philosophy names that creating and sustaining force, names it, calls it "ho λόγος", NT Greek for “the Word” or “reason”. In everyday English it sounds so simple, yet boggles the mind, is incredibly complex, abstract, obscure; even arcane: beyond comprehension in modern life.

Canonized as holy scripture, Gospel John unites that λόγος - - which is Creative Speaker and Word Spoken and Continuing to Speak like a song that never ends, the Hum of the Universe - - creating and perpetuating - - God’s evolving imagination and will, spirit, energy, motion, matter, life - - Gospel John theologically identifying that philosophical sense of λόγος as God the Son who became incarnate as Jesus Christ.    

Christian theology, expressed in the Nicene Creed affirms “Through him, all things were made.” That’s what that line in the creed is about: it takes us all the way back, not to Bethlehem, but to the genesis of God’s dream for us!

Gospel John laments that Logos the Word who came to Earth as Jesus was rejected - - but then rejoices with the offer that for all who accept him, he welcomes as God’s own.

John goes ON to say that This One Jesus is Grace (which is unconditional love), and is the embodiment of Truth. 

This then is the gospel: God is Love, Jesus is Lord - - where Jesus is not Santa Claus making a list and checking it twice, gonna find out who’s naughty or nice, but

Jesus is the Grace of God, who loves you no matter what, and commands you to love others no matter what; which is impossible for us:

Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?


I will, WITH GOD'S HELP.

Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?


I will, WITH GOD'S HELP.

It’s impossible, BUT Jesus says (MT 19:26) all things are possible with God; AND from our baptism, God the Holy Spirit fills us, enables us, God helping us. Which means you CAN do it.

Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith: you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. This is the First and Great commandment, and the Second is its equal in every way: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. 

Will you? 

I will, with God’s help.

God is within you, helping. You CAN do it.

That’s the λόγος of Creation and Christmas.

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Homiletic endeavor in Holy Nativity Episcopal Church on December 26, 2021, the First Sunday after Christmas Day. The Rev Tom Weller (Retired), Priest Associate of the parish.

Text: John 1:1-18, the Prologue of John's gospel.

Art pinched online with apologies, a remarkable, almost magical, image uniting Luke's beloved nativity narrative of the babe in the manger, and Matthew's star of Bethlehem, with the mystical Prologue of John, who proclaims God the Word from all eternity, but knows nothing whatsoever of infants or stars; all this on the day following the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope to explore the farthest reaches of creation.