John 1:1-5.9-14

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all.

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 He was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.

11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 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.

Beginning. A beautiful word. It seems carefree. Beginning means something is about to start. It's about to start. 

Beginning. The word harbours many promises. It harbours possibilities.
In the beginning. Carefree and unbiased. In the beginning - nothing has happened yet: everything is open.

People love beginnings. Hermann Hesse claims that there is a magic in beginnings. 
That's why I understand the wish that people sometimes say, "Oh, if only I could start all over again". 

This then turns out to be an illusion. The wish implies that something that has gone wrong and is a burden can be undone. The desire for a new beginning is the longing to overcome the difficult, to leave it behind. And so people attempt to start afresh.

In the beginning.
This is how John begins his Gospel. He remembers the beginning. The origin. In the beginning was a word, John learns by looking at the Old Testament.

The word: God said: Let there be!

In the beginning we are with God - God is the beginning.

We did not start our lives ourselves. In the beginning we were connected - in the beginning there were people around us to whom we were entrusted. 
In the beginning there was birth. Birth is the greatest image for beginning. When we are expecting a child or holding a baby in our arms, we perhaps understand a little better what beginning means.

John reminds us of the birth of God: In creation. In the Word. In Jesus Christ.

God becomes. God is at the beginning - he is the founder and will one day become the perfecter.

John writes of God as a God who is born in the world. "Who Becomes flesh". That sounds crude to our ears. That is what it means. God is not an unapproachable spirit that wobbles around in the world without us being able to grasp him. On the contrary: God becomes small.

The manger did not contain a fair boy with curly hair. There lay a human child, depending on the care of his parents. A small child, at the mercy of his parents, in need of protection.

John describes God's birth in the world as a new beginning. John wants to tell us something new about God. He wants to get rid of the old images of God and leave them behind. He wants God to be able to start anew. God is no longer the terrible ruler before whom the world trembles. God is no longer a mighty man of war who tramples over the world in soldier's boots and devastates it.

John puts an end to this image of God, which was the predominant image of gods in the world at that time, in Rome and Greece.

This God is different.

There he lies. He is not even sitting on a throne. He is lying, very close to the ground.

He lies there and is looked at and unfolds its power. There is life in him. There is an irrepressible life. A child kicks itself free, it knows nothing of the fear of war. It does not know the worries of its parents. It beams at them and is only concerned with one thing - living.

John perceives this as true light. I like this expression. It is as if John suddenly understands what is important in life. The truth sets him free. The truth about God, who is in truth a God who speaks and remains alive in words.

They are words full of blessing. Benidicere. The Latin word for blessing: Speak well. To speak correctly. God speaks correctly. God speaks in such a way that something can come into being and become good.

This is at the beginning. The great trust that God looks at this world and blesses it: Behold, it is good.

John succeeds in preserving the mysterious and marvellous in the prologue, his introduction to his gospel. God does not dissolve in the world - God remains. 

God remains hidden and recognisable in the Word. 

God does not disappear into the world - he becomes a small human being and remains a great God. 

God does not lose himself in the world and humanity - he also remains true God: origin and beginning.

We celebrate all of this when we celebrate Christmas. We realise our longing to start again when we are at the end.

This longing is met by the fearlessness that arises when God speaks and addresses this word directly to us: Behold, it is good.

This does not condone evil or minimise the bad. The pain is recognised. Death is recognised. 

The light shines in the darkness. The darkness does not dissipate. God separates them. Light and darkness. Day and night. Birth and death.

We remember all of this when we celebrate Christmas: that God becomes new and remains alive. In us.
This is what moves me when I look at the world this Christmas: that in all the places that I associate with fear and horror: the war zones, the homes where there is hunger, the families where violence is abused, the prisons of the world - these are places where the longing for a new beginning is great. Births also take place in these places: Life goes on - and it can become good when the Word becomes flesh.
So if we don't just talk about a better world. When we don't just throw empty words around, but when the word moves our hands, guides our minds and directs our feet.

That would be a start. If we spoke differently to each other. When the word is granted to everyone in the world. When the word counts for something, when the exchange of words creates life. 

At the beginning.
Today is such a beginning. Today, what we saw and heard on Christmas Eve can change my words and my actions.
Today, God can be born. And we become - a little more light-hearted.

That would be marvellous. A glory full of grace and truth.

May the peace of God, which is higher than our understanding, guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen