Dear Partner in Preaching, I am going to share brief reflections on both the Luke text we often hear on Christmas Eve and the John text that is usually appointed for Christmas Day. Actually, though, it’s not two reflections but rather one thing that struck me as present in both gospels. And, for what it’s worth, it’s the one thing I need to hear as we approach this Christmas, so I hope it is helpful to you as you lean toward preaching either the Christmas Eve or Day readings or, perchance, both. I’ll start with a confession: for some reason, the world seems a little darker this year. It might be the pall that seems to have hung over...
John 1:15
posted by DJL
(John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”) Again with John. 🙂 John the Baptist looms large in all the gospels, particularly in the early part of the story. We know him best as the...
John 1:14a
posted by DJL
And the Word became flesh… This phrase, at the heart of not just John’s Prologue but his whole Gospel, is likely quite familiar to us. We’ve heard it before, perhaps many times, probably as one of the readings on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. But while we may be very familiar with it,...
John 1:3a
posted by DJL
All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. Each of the four Evangelists has a symbol – Mark is a lion, Luke a bull, Matthew a man – that represents something of the character of the Gospel associated with that author. John’s symbol is the...
John 1:1-2
posted by DJL
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. This is perhaps the central claim of John’s Gospel and, indeed, Christianity. That the divine Word that takes on human flesh in Jesus is not just from God, or only was with God,...