A sermon preached by the Rev’d Dr Daniel Dries Christmas 2 Christ Church St Laurence – 3rd January 2016
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight: O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. Amen. ‘In the beginning was the Word…’ So begins the First Chapter of the Gospel according to St John. These enigmatic words establish the great mystery that will be unveiled in the following chapters. The mystery will be put into a human context through the life of Christ, and yet, this Eternal Word is destined to remain a divine mystery. John Donne, the 16th Century poet and Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral, London eloquently expresses the great riddle in the poem: “Eternal God, for whom who ever dare Seeke new expressions, doe the Circle square, And thrust into strait corners of poore wit Thee, who are cornerless and infinite…” John Donne, 1573–1631 The poetry of John Donne, may be a little beyond us, particularly as we are perhaps still recovering from New Year’s Eve celebrations. After all, as we observe the Second Sunday of Christmas, our eyes are still firmly fixed on the manger. This tiny child continues to lie peacefully in the crib. We are waiting for the arrival of the magi, but in the meantime, we have a baby, doting parents and shepherds with their humble animals. It’s all very earthy and accessible, and there is great comfort in it. Matthew and Luke offer us an account of the incarnation to which we can relate. However, today we are presented with the Prologue of St John’s, Gospel. “In the beginning was the Word,” writes John. John makes the dramatic claim that, before anything was, the Word was. This is one of the few places within the New Testament where the “pre-existence of Christ” is affirmed. As we struggle to come to terms with this mysterious concept, the temptation is always to run back to the crib, with its familiar beauty and simplicity. But that would be taking the easy way out. ‘In the beginning was the Word…’ Our scriptural tradition tells us that Christ was born in Bethlehem in the humblest of circumstances. In our canon of Scripture there is nothing to suggest that the Christ Child looked or acted differently from any other baby or growing child. And yet, John’s Gospel begins with this extraordinary claim that there is this eternal presence dwelling within the ordinary body of a new-born child. Of course, none of this makes sense – particularly in a world so focused on the material and on the present.
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We can take some comfort in the knowledge that we are not the only ones to have struggled with the concept of the Eternal Word. In his role as Professor of Theology, the Protestant reformer Martin Luther was put ‘on the spot’ by one of his students. It is said that, as he was striving to come to terms with the Eternal Word, the theology student facetiously asked: “Professor Luther, what was God doing before he created the world? After all, if God is uncreated and eternal, God must have had a long time to himself before God created us. What did he do with all that time on his hands?” After a period of giggling, an indignant Professor Luther responded, “What was God doing with himself before creation? He was out gathering sticks to beat the hell out of dumb students like you who ask stupid questions!” Luther taught in a time in which diplomacy and political correctness were not always maintained. The greatest shortcoming in Luther’s tongue in cheek explanation is that it reduces a divine concept to something very human. The first chapter of John’s Gospel makes no attempt to do this. Until recent years, scholars suggested that the beginning of John Chapter 1 was in reality a hymn tacked on to an independent Gospel. It is certainly the case that the prologue of John’s Gospel is quite different from the material that follows. However, it is now generally accepted that the author of John’s Gospel also composed the dramatic and mysterious introduction. But why is it there at all? The four Gospels speak very strongly to a largely Jewish audience. The ancient Israelites had waited centuries for their saviour and Messiah. As the Gospels contain so many references to Old Testament prophecy, the birth of the Christ Child could easily have suggested to a Jewish audience that it was all about them. Certainly, their stories were entwined with his. However, John goes to great lengths to assure them that this God is not just like them; this Christ Child is not simply the continuation of their story. They do not own this Messiah. As many Christians speak with aggressive and arrogant voices, they would do well to realise that we do not own the Christ Child either. Christ may have experienced all that we experience; however, God was not made in our image. Rather, John the evangelist tells us that humanity has been united with an eternal presence far beyond anything we can see or experience in this life. Arthur Malcolm Stace was born in Redfern on the 9 th February 1885. ‘Mr Eternity’, as he became known, Arthur Stace spent 35 years writing the word ‘eternity’ on Sydney footpaths from Martin Place to Parramatta. Despite the fact that Arthur Stace was illiterate, and could barely write his own name, his elegant trademark has been copied countless times, not least of all on the Sydney Harbour Bridge for the New Year’s Eve fireworks in the year 2000. Arthur Stace was a reformed alcoholic who converted to Christianity after hearing an inspirational sermon given by the Reverend R B S Hammond, Rector of St Barnabas’ Anglican Church, Broadway. Mr Stace became obsessed with this concept of Eternity, and wrote the word in chalk over half a million times. The Sydney City Council reported his rather eccentric behaviour to the police, but he managed to avoid arrest many times, always responding: “But I had permission from a higher source.” Arthur Stace wasn’t drawing attention to himself; it certainly wasn’t all about him. He was reminding Sydney residents that it wasn’t all about them either. It’s a message that we all need, whether we profess the Christian faith or not. Our brief stories are somehow linked to the Eternal Word; they are entwined with a divine reality that surpasses our greatest thoughts and achievements. In our 2|P age
tradition we express this Eternal reality through music, candles and great clouds of incense. Arthur Stace didn’t go around Sydney waving a thurible, but as we gather for worship, the message is the same: ‘Eternity’ – It’s not all about us. It’s not all about the present moment. Although we look upon the Crib with a degree of familiarity and understanding, the Christ Child that we worship is not just like us. Although we cannot comprehend his meaning, John begins his magnificent Gospel by calling us into a different and mysterious reality; affirming that this tiny child is the Eternal Word—the God who is, who was and who is to come, The Almighty. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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