1<\/sup><\/em>\u2006In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.\u00a02<\/sup>\u2006He was in the beginning with God.\u00a03<\/sup>\u2006All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being\u00a04<\/sup>\u2006in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.\u00a05<\/sup>\u2006The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.<\/em> In the Name of the Father, and of the Son +, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n Merry Christmas!\u00a0 They say Christmas is for children, and having watched our three kids open their stockings and a few other packages this morning, I\u2019ve been remembering back to being a child at Christmas, maybe you can remember back too, when the gifts that we gave on Christmas morning were not anything from Amazon or that we bought at a store, but homemade crafts, and little treasures, and handmade coupons we\u2019d give each to other, \u201cThis coupon is good for one week of washing the dishes\u201d, or \u201cone hour of babysitting\u201d or \u201cone hug and kiss\u201d or whatever else. And even if it was already your job to wash the dishes or babysit, giving the coupon felt like a special gift, because at the bottom you signed your name, you gave your word, that I will give you myself, my time, my love, as a free gift this Christmas.<\/p>\n Today we hear about what God is giving on Christmas, for God is also giving us his Word, God is also giving us his promise, God is also giving his very self to you and me as a free gift this Christmas.\u00a0 If the other gospels tell us the what<\/em> of the birth of Christ, the story of the shepherds and the angels and all that we marveled at last night, John\u2019s gospel this Christmas Day tells us the Who<\/em>, the Who who was not just in Bethlehem a long time ago, but the Who who was in the very beginning before there was a Bethlehem, before there was anything, \u201cIn the beginning<\/em> was the Word,\u201d John tells us \u201cand the Word was with God, and the Word was God.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This Word is the eternal Word of the Father, the Second Person of the Trinity, now in flesh appearing, the Son of God, who was forever with his Father, and will be forever, world without end, but who today has come down into a manger bed for you, and is born as one of us, and shares our flesh and blood as the infant Jesus.\u00a0 Today God says, \u201cI give you myself, I give you my Son, I give you my Word,\u201d and here today all God\u2019s wisdom and power and eternity rests: silent, weak, a newborn lying in a manger.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 John says everything came into being through this Word, everything has its creation through this Word: this whole world was spoken into being through this Word, and so you and I were created, you were created purposefully, intentionally, lovingly by this Word who is now cradled in Mary\u2019s arms.\u00a0 And what has come into being in Jesus is life, the life that is the light of all people.\u00a0 Life with a capital \u201cL\u201d: eternal, real, rich, everlasting Life, given to you and to me and to all, making him the true Light for all people.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Last night, as we lit our candles in this darkened church, as we stood together as sang \u201cSilent Night\u201d, we let our candles shine out and beat back the New England cold and darkness.\u00a0 But all the darkness in the world cannot extinguish one candle\u2019s flame, and John tells us this morning that the \u201clight [of Christ] shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For we know that this world tries to put out the light.\u00a0 Especially around this time of year we feel the power of darkness trying to kill the light.\u00a0 The world, our city streets, our own lives are too often full of heartache and hurt, of pain and bitterness.\u00a0 We miss our loved ones, we grieve the empty spots around the table this season.\u00a0 The hectic-ness of the season can show us our emptiness, and we feel the darkness we hold within ourselves. It\u2019s this darkness that will try and put out the Christ child, that will try and blow out and smother the brightness of his flame. This precious child that Mary cradles she will one day cradle again as his body is taken down from the Cross.\u00a0 But we have the Christmas promise today, that despite it all, despite whatever it is in your life, despite whatever darkness you are in or you feel, that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.\u00a0 The darkness cannot overcome it.\u00a0 The light of Christ, God\u2019s Word made flesh, keeps on shining bright and warm for you and for me, for Christ is born, heaven and earth rejoice and give glory to God, and Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again. The light still shines in the darkness and the darkness did not and cannot and will never overcome it.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And because of this light, because of his coming among us today, a new beginning is possible again this morning for each of us.\u00a0 As we come to the end of this old year, when everything feels a little old and tired and worn out, we have a promise, that to all who receive him, who trust in our Lord, he will give the power to become children of God, children who are born not of blood or flesh or human decision, but are born from God.\u00a0 Christmas is about the child lying in the manger.\u00a0 But Christmas is also about you and me becoming children of God, by faith.\u00a0 Christmas is for children, and by faith you are a child of God today! God so loved the world that he gave his only Son to be born in a manger, but God so loved us that he would not let Jesus be an only child\u2014for he has chosen you, and adopted you, and made you his own child forever.<\/p>\n So we\u2019ve come, as God\u2019s children, to give thanks to him this Christmas Day, to worship our newborn King. Try as we\u2019d like we cannot go to Bethlehem to see this child–but we don\u2019t need to.\u00a0 For the Word has come to us, the light shines in the darkness, and we have seen his glory, as of a Father\u2019s only Son.\u00a0 But we can come now, with our hands open as a manger bed for the Word made flesh, we can welcome and receive the Word in faith as he comes to us again this morning in the Holy Communion, we can see the face of the Christ child in the faces shining around us this morning, and in those we can love and serve today and all year long.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For he comes again this morning, the true light shining the in the darkness, full of grace and truth. He comes to give you his Word, to give you himself–the best Christmas gift ever\u2014and to make you his child forever.\u00a0 So Merry Christmas!<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And the Peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n The Rev. Dr. Ryan Mills<\/p>\n New Haven, Connecticut<\/p>\n TrinityLutheranNH.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Nativity of Our Lord | Christmas Day | December 25, 2024| A Sermon on John 1:1-14 | by The Rev. Dr. Ryan D. Mills | 1\u2006In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.\u00a02\u2006He was in the beginning with God.\u00a03\u2006All things came into being through him, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20564,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,157,853,543,108,110,497,349,3,109,212],"tags":[],"beitragende":[],"predigtform":[],"predigtreihe":[],"bibelstelle":[],"class_list":["post-20600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-johannes","category-beitragende","category-bibel","category-christfest-i","category-current","category-engl","category-kapitel-01-chapter-01-johannes","category-kasus","category-nt","category-predigten","category-ryan-mills"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20600"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20601,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20600\/revisions\/20601"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20600"},{"taxonomy":"beitragende","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/beitragende?post=20600"},{"taxonomy":"predigtform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtform?post=20600"},{"taxonomy":"predigtreihe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtreihe?post=20600"},{"taxonomy":"bibelstelle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bibelstelle?post=20600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n6<\/sup>\u2006There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.\u00a07<\/sup>\u2006He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.\u00a08<\/sup>\u2006He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.\u00a09<\/sup>\u2006The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
\n10<\/sup>\u2006He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him.\u00a011<\/sup>\u2006He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.\u00a012<\/sup>\u2006But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God,\u00a013<\/sup>\u2006who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
\n14<\/sup>\u2006And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father\u2019s only son, full of grace and truth.<\/em> (John 1:1-14, NRSV).<\/em><\/p>\n