Southwest Community Church
December 21
  • Angels From The Realms Of Glory (Emmanuel)
  • O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

  • In the Beginning

    Review

    This Advent, we are beginning our journey through the gospel of John. The journey will walk us right through the longing and anticipation of Advent into Christmas and through Epiphany - the reminder that the gift of Jesus’ birth is for the whole world! Then, our journey will trace the life and ministry of Jesus and follow Him into his death - Good Friday - and resurrection on Easter Sunday.
    We are reading a gospel that was written originally for “a faith community struggling with their identity and feeling external and internal pressures.” (h/t Judy Fentress-Williams) Feels relatable, right? “And John’s Gospel is crafted to introduce its readers to the Jesus they all thought they already knew.”
    Let’s review…
    In the beginning…Jesus the Word…before Creation
    Gordon Tisher: “God’s plan has been there since the beginning. God’s blueprint for the universe has always been ‘with God’ (literally “all up in God’s face”). God’s conversation with God’s self is in fact identical with God’s existence. God’s Logos illuminates our human existence and drives back the darkness of our primordial separation from God.”
    and in creation:
    Gordon Tisher: “God’s blueprint for creation was not done on the seventh day; God didn’t set up the universe in the beginning and then let it run amok on its own. God hasn’t stopped speaking into creation. God’s conversation with God’s self became God’s conversation with us, and God’s Logos became flesh and blood and dwelt among us; God’s Living Word invaded our shadowed earthly reality with the light of Bethlehem.”
    Light shines in the darkness - the Word made flesh - the light - reveals God to humanity
    The Light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.
    The God we cannot see - for to see God is to die - has been made knowable. Has been revealed. has been made see-able. We can know and experience God and see what God is like - because of Jesus.
    Jesus, the Word, who is with God and is GOd, explicates God for us. Explains. Develops the idea of God in detail. Or, pun absolutely intended, Jesus fleshes God out for us.
    A witness to the Light who reveals God to us
    We are called to witness to the light just like John the Baptist. And, we are invited by the Beloved Disciple into the journey of his witness as well. Our journey through the fourth gospel is an invitation to become a witness.

    Reading

    John 1:1–8 NIV
    1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
    John 1:9–14 NIV
    9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
    This is the Word of the Lord.
    THANKS BE TO GOD.
    The true light - who is the Word made flesh - comes to us and makes us children of God.
    The true light - there’s that theme of light and darkness which we’ve already encountered in the Prologue, and that will show up throughout the rest of the Fourth gospel
    John 8 I am the Light of the world
    John 9 the man born blind
    John 12:35-36 as Jesus enters Jerusalem and predicts his death
    John 20 when Mary comes to the tomb by dark of night
    among many other references to darkness & light - often unbelief represented by the dark, and belief by light
    Karoline Lewis: “Light and darkness [in the fourth gospel] are synonymous with belief and unbelief, respectively… That the light shines in the darkness is another way to state that the Word became flesh.”
    And so, let’s jump ahead to vs 14 here: that famous verse:
    John 1:14 NIV
    14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
    Word made flesh -
    Incarnation - the Word became flesh - God became human
    Full of grace and truth, unfailing love and faithfulness
    shows us God - we have seen his glory
    In fact, Jesus as the Word made flesh is a re-definition of glory.
    Self-giving love, rather than self-glorifying, egocentric versions that 1st century newsfeeds would have been talking about. (Turns out the word made flesh also offers us a redefinition of glory in 2025 - one that we so desperately need!)
    The true light has shone in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.
    Children of God
    Lesslie Newbigin - “Rejection is not the last word. The first part of the Gospel (up to chapter 12) will record the rejection of the light by those who claimed to see. It will be followed by a section in which Jesus is alone with those who have come to the light (chapters 13-17). Darkness cannot have the last word.
    Instead, the true light offersto make us children of God - offers that we can be in relationship with God. In John, the coded way of speaking about this is to speak of being children of God. (John 3 - the conversation between Jesus & Nicodemus!)
    Karoline Lewis: “God, as the parent, provides everything necessary for a child to be nurtured and suppored, from food and water, to shelter and safety, to intimacy and belonging.”
    “This Gospel imagines that every single aspect of the parent-child relationship is operative in our relationship with God. Everything a child needs from a parent, for survival, protection, to be sustained and nurtured, to grow and mature — this is what God provides. The rest of the Gospel will demonstrate how God provides for God’s children.
    And so, for you… as Christmas nears. Are you prepared? I’m not talking about turkey and gifts - though I realize those are the things that begin to take up most of the space in our brains and hearts.
    But take a moment now.
    The Creator of the universe takes on human flesh so that we might find out - see and experience what God is really like. That we might behold the glory of God - in a baby, yes. And in that baby’s life. In his death - in his willingness to lay down his life, and in his resurrection, in his ascension… and in his promise to return to make all things new.
    In the beginning, God.
    In Creation, Jesus the Word.
    In the Incarnation, the Word made flesh.
    And we are invited into that too… to become children of God. To live as children of a God who provides all that we need, both for our sustenance, but also for our flourishing.
    The true light has shone in the darkness. And even where we have joined in on the rejection of that light, rejection does not have the last word. We are invited to become children of God.
    In the Word made flesh, the whole idea of glory is redefined.
    The God, who until now was unseeable has MOVED into the neighbourhood, holding human and divine together. Now. And always.

      • John 1:1–8NIV2011

      • John 1:9–14NIV2011

      • John 1:14NIV2011

  • Light Of The World (Sing Hallelujah)
Southwest Community Church
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