“And the Word became
flesh and dwelled among us”.
What does the word becoming flesh actually look like? I have no problem imagining shepherds
abiding in the fields by night or a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, and lying
in a manger, but a word becoming flesh and dwelling among us? Not exactly a “Kodak Moment”. Talk about theoretical. And yet, it seems to me that if the
church is going to be relevant, we need to wrestle deeply with what it means
for the church that Jesus, the Lord of the Church, became flesh and dwelled
among us. It sounds nice that God, through Jesus, took on our flesh and blood –
healing and teaching us, but what does that mean for our daily lives?
It’s easy to talk about God moving into the neighborhood,
but much harder to embody and reflect it. If God is in the neighborhood are we? Are we alleviating hunger,
advocating for the most vulnerable among us and working for justice? If so, we’re in the neighborhood.
I wonder sometimes if this image of God becoming flesh and
dwelling among us has had the unintended effect of saying, “Well, Christ is out
in the world, so I don’t need to be”.
As followers of Christ we know better. We know that Christ doesn’t heal and feed by osmosis. Christ’s hands are our hands. If Christ is dwelling among us, then he
is dwelling in us.
Journeying out in the neighborhood doesn’t begin on the
streets. It begins in the place
where Christ has promised to be present in a healing and feeding kind of
way: in worship. Being in the neighborhood begins in
worship. There, I said it. Serving up giant helpings of
justice and mercy out on the streets happens only after we have received
generous portions of God’s love in worship. And if it takes longer than 60 minutes to be fed well then
talk to the head-chef; the host of the meal.
How can we possibly reflect Christ if we rarely find
ourselves in the place where stories are told about him; reflections are
shared; hymns are sung; and prayers are offered? And all of this over a meal, hosted by a God whose abundant
love knows no boundaries.
Our presiding bishop, Elizabeth Eaton, says it even
better.
“At the center of our
life together is worship and at the center of our worship is the crucified and
risen Christ. When we gather for
worship we turn our gaze away from ourselves to the source of our life and hope
and salvation. When we gather for
worship, we are encountered by the living God in Scripture, proclamation of the
gospel and the sacraments. God
meets us and transforms us. We
taste, touch, and see the love of God in Christ.”
See you Sunday,
Pastor Doug
