The Beginning of Another Year

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 that, not one thing came into being.
What has come into existence was life
and the life was the light of all people.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness did not overcome it.
~John 1: 1-5, paraphrased.

One of my favorite holiday songs asks the question, “Do you hear what I hear?” And later, a king declares: “Listen to what I say.” In a variety of ways, language was employed to tell the story of Jesus’ birth.

The author of John’s Gospel wrote a hymn of creation. In it the author tells us that before anything existed, the Word was. The Word was with God. And the Word was God. And then this Word became flesh. The Word dwelt among us. The Word was with us. And the Word was one of us.

This incredible revelation has captivated the imagination for more than two thousand years. It’s not knowledge that can be proven, like the distance that separates one galaxy from the next. Nor can you expect to understand the depth of God’s love. Like the Psalmist, we declare: “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.”

And yet, the Psalmist continues, God’s eyes beheld our unformed substance and all our days when “none of them yet existed.” From the beginning, from before there was a beginning, God has loved us! God created creation for the purpose of loving us. God made love the reason for all that is.

Philosophically, the human mind struggles to comprehend. Sociologically and psychologically we try to make sense of realities that make no sense. There is, ultimately, only one reality. The language of the Apostle Paul catches a glimmer of that reality:

“I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God…”

January 1, 2015, marks the beginning of another year. We’re living on a planet in a galaxy and all around us there are things present and things to come. There are powers; there are heights; there are depths, but none of them matter ultimately. What matters is that the Lord of creation brought us salvation that blessed Christmas morning. “Pleased in flesh with us to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel.” Thanks be to God!

~Harrell