Newark Congregational Church

Unfortunately our service on Christmas morning did not happen due to a problem with a flat tyre meaning I couldn’t get there.

For those who may be interested – this is what I would have been saying.

Mark

Readings

John 1: 1-14

1 In the beginning the Word already existed; the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² From the very beginning the Word was with God. ³ Through him God made all things; not one thing in all creation was made without him. ⁴ The Word was the source of life,^[a] and this life brought light to people. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out.

⁶ God sent his messenger, a man named John, ⁷ who came to tell people about the light, so that all should hear the message and believe. ⁸ He himself was not the light; he came to tell about the light. ⁹ This was the real light—the light that comes into the world and shines on all people.

¹⁰ The Word was in the world, and though God made the world through him, yet the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to his own country, but his own people did not receive him. ¹² Some, however, did receive him and believed in him; so he gave them the right to become God’s children. ¹³ They did not become God’s children by natural means, that is, by being born as the children of a human father; God himself was their Father.

¹⁴ The Word became a human being and, full of grace and truth, lived among us. We saw his glory, the glory which he received as the Father’s only Son.

Matthew 5:14-16

¹⁴ “You are like light for the whole world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. ¹⁵ No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bowl; instead it is put on the lampstand, where it gives light for everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.

Sermon

We’ve heard lots about journeys to Bethlehem, about Angels and Shepherds, about Stars and Wise Men in the last few weeks. So today I thought we’d look at a different version of the Christmas Story and think about what John had to say.

The first of the 4 Gospels was written by Mark. What did he say about the birth of Jesus? Absolutely nothing! Mark’s Gospel starts with the preaching of John the Baptist and the baptism of an adult Jesus in the River Jordan.

If we want the elements of the traditional Christmas Story we have to go to Luke (who tells about the census and the journey to Bethlehem, and the angels appearing to the shepherds) and to Matthew (who gives us the Wise Men, the Kings, the Magi, call them what you will, following the star, the visit to Herod and the flight into Egypt as Herod orders the killing of all the young boys around Bethlehem.)

No Wise men in Luke, no shepherds in Matthew.

Why this difference in approach – in all honesty who knows. I think it’s interesting that Mark sees no need to embellish his story of Jesus with what might have happened 30 years earlier. He’s happy to concentrate on Jesus as an adult – and that’s where I think we ought to concentrate too.

But then there’s John. John’s Gospel was the last to be written – probably around the end of the first century AD – maybe 50 years after Jesus’ earthly life had ended.

And John’s approach to the explanation of Jesus origins is radically different to those of either Matthew or Luke. We’ve just heard it read to us in that beautiful poetic language. I’ll read the first 3 verses again:

1 In the beginning the Word already existed; the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² From the very beginning the Word was with God. ³ Through him God made all things; not one thing in all creation was made without him. ⁴ The Word was the source of life,^[a] and this life brought light to people. 

Now there’s not one mention of the word Jesus in that, or in the whole of the passage we heard read.

But John is absolutely writing about Jesus – he calls him The Word. Let’s put Jesus back in –

1 In the beginning Jesus already existed; Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God. ² From the very beginning Jesus was with God. ³ Through Jesus God made all things; not one thing in all creation was made without Jesus. ⁴ Jesus was the source of life, and this life brought light to people. 

That’s what these 3 verses mean and it’s making a major claim for Jesus – John is saying Jesus is God. That’s a huge thing to say. We haven’t got time this morning to go into what that means in more depth otherwise the sprouts will be overcooked. And to be honest that’s what we spend most of our time all year thinking and talking about. (Jesus as God that is – not the sprouts)

This morning what I want us to think about just for a minute or two is the next verse

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out.

That’s the thing about light. No matter how small the light and how huge and gloomy the darkness – darkness can’t put out light. The light will continue to shine, and in shining to illuminate the darkness.

So what Jesus had to say – the metaphorical light that he shone on us all 2000 years which illuminated how we should live our lives to the Glory of God and to the benefit of those on Earth – that light cannot ever be extinguished. However many or however few are sitting in churches around our land this morning the light of Jesus is the same.

But that doesn’t mean we can be complacent and just sit here basking in the light for our own gratification.

Because Jesus had something to say about light too. We heard it in our second reading. Jesus said

¹⁴ “You are like light for the whole world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. ¹⁵ No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bowl; instead it is put on the lampstand, where it gives light for everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.

It’s our job to share the light of Jesus – to share his message of love – to make that light shine brighter in these days so that it is seen by more and more people.

And how do we do this? – Jesus says – they will see the good things you do.

It’s not what we say that matters. It’s not turning up in church, whether that’s once a year or every week, it’s not looking after our own interests and trying to make sure we get to heaven when we die. It’s about doing good things. Doing good things is so worthwhile in its own right of course but people will also notice that we are doing good things and will think – that’s what Jesus people do!

We’ve got 3 notice boards up in church.

There’s one about the church itself – what we believe and what our principals are.

There’s one about the church activities – all the things we do other than on Sunday mornings to reach out to others.

Both of those things are important.

But what’s more important is what’s represented on the third noticeboard – what we do for others

When we support Action Aid, when we help a school in Africa, when the Community Choir raise £2000 for the hospice, when the Men’s group sponsor small businesses, that’s us being the light of the world – that’s us showing the world what Jesus people do.

And there are other things we do that will never appear on that noticeboard but are just as important.

• when we support each other in times of difficulty or grief;
• when we talk to people and try and help them with their problems;
• when we give someone a lift so they can get here;
• when we make sure everyone feels included when we do things

That’s all us shining our light.

My hope is, as we move to the end of this year and anticipate the next, that we will have as our goal as Jesus people to continue and expand the things we do to make Jesus’ light shine before people so they will ‘see the good things we do and praise our Father in heaven’.

Amen.