Word Without End

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it...And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."

- John 1:1-5, 14 (ESV, adapt.)

John 1 is one of the great Christological passages in all of Scripture. Few other passages so concisely proclaim both the divinity of Jesus, who is the Word, as well as his humanity. The baby born on Christmas is a very real, vulnerable human baby...who is also God...the one, true, only God...who created all that there is or ever will be. Good, good stuff.

It's part of the lectionary for Christmas Day, but I'll be preaching from it tomorrow.

I've always been a bit intrigued by verse 5: "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." Though the rest of John 1 tells a story from the past, this verse suggests something that's ongoing...that the light that is Jesus Christ is still shining, and the darkness - which is very real - still does not overcome this light.

The familiar liturgical phrase "world without end", taken from the "Gloria Patri", emphasizes the eternal nature of the Holy Trinity, but we can certainly think of Jesus as the "Word Without End", for he never fails us and will be waiting for us at the end of every year and at the end of time, to embrace us and walk with us into eternity.

As I prepare my heart for the end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008, I am thanking God for Robyn and our children, our family and friends, our congregation and our home, our Connection and Christ's Holy Church, but, most of all, I am thanking God that Jesus is always near, a light in the darkness, even when I'm having trouble seeing. Have a blessed and fruitful new year!