2 Christmas C—1/3/15
Jeremiah 31:7-14; Psalm 147:12-20; Ephesians 1:3-14; John 1:1-18
Pr. Scott Kramer
Week after week we hear these words: Word of God. Word of Life. And the people respond: Praise to you, O Christ. This morning when you hear “Word of God, Word of Life…” your response is: Thanks be to God!
As we conclude the Christmas season, what is the word of God for us? What is the word of life that will feed and sustain us as we move forward into this New Year?
Each of the readings for this second Sunday of Christmas contains an answer to these questions, offering us a powerful message of hope.
Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away. What is this “word of the Lord”? The word of God speaks to the prophet Jeremiah the assurance that God is one who gathers and saves. Save, O Lord, your people…and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth… The blind and the lame, those who weep, the young and the old God will gather. God will turn their mourning into joy…will comfort them…and give them gladness for sorrow.
Word of God. Word of Life. And the people of God say, Thanks be to God!
What is the word of God for us in this New Year? The psalmist writes, God sends out a command to the earth, a word that runs very swiftly…The Lord sends forth the word…God declares the word to Jacob. What is this word of God? That God gives good gifts, including the good earth. God gives snow like wool, scattering frost like ashes. God scatters hail like bread crumbs…the wind blows, and the waters flow. It is this good earth that is our home, our habitat, that which we have been entrusted not to exploit but to care for.
And there’s more: For the psalm-writer, God also gives guidance through laws that help to order our life. Not rules and regulations to weigh us down but “statutes and judgments” that help us to live in harmony with ourselves, with others, and with God’s good earth.
Word of God, Word of Life. And the people of God say: Thanks be to God!
What is the word of God for us in the New Year? The writer of the letter to the Ephesians proclaims that, In Christ, you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit. What is this “word of truth”? The word of truth is that God has adopted us as God’s own children. It is the word of truth that God forgives. It is the word of truth that God is above all gracious—so gracious, in fact, that the writer assures with these words: in the fullness of time, God will gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. How gracious is God? More gracious than we want! God welcomes and includes all people and all things—all that exists.
Word of God. Word of Life. And the people of God say, Thanks be to God.
What is the word of God for us in this New Year? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. The word of God is more than just “words!” The Word “became flesh, and lived among us,” and is the very source of all that is. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
What is the word of God? In these final days of the Christmas season we remember the Christmas good news message that God is with us. No matter what, God is with us! As we begin a new year it is enough for us to know that whatever the New Year brings–in our personal lives, in the world—we are in the hands of a gracious God who loves us, no matter what.
Word of God. Word of Life. And the people of God say, Thanks be to God!
AMEN
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