Epworth United Methodist Church

Epworth United Methodist Church
Rev. David Weekley, Pastor
01-03-10

Communion Meditation on the Word

When I was a graduate student in the Phenomenology of Religion at Miami University, I took a class in African Religions. One of the ideas I learned in that class has remained with me all these years- the belief that words have a very real, literal power to effect change.

I was reminded of this as I read this morning’s gospel reading from John 1:10-18. The gospel itself begins like this, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the word was God” and later, from the section we read today comes John 1:14, “And the Word became flesh and lived among us…”

I cannot think of a better focus as we enter a New Year and decade together than to consider the power of our own words, especially when contrasted with God’s Word that became manifest in and through Jesus the Christ.

We use lots of words in a day.

There are words that describe. There are words that question. There are words that motivate, or amuse; words that call for attention.

One of my favorite illustrations of words that amuse comes from IBM’s Watson Center, where a supervisor had placed a sign in the restroom right over the sink that read, “THINK!”

The next day, when he went into the same restroom, right below his sign, next to the soap dispenser, someone had carefully placed another sign that read, “THOAP!”

Yet there is another use for words, less common-

Rather than merely describing an action, sometimes words can be employed to accomplish something themselves: in this case a words itself becomes the action.

We typically reserve these types of words for sacred, life-changing and often solemn occasions: “I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”, “With this ring I thee wed”, “We commit our sister to her final resting place, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, but her spirit we commend to God.”

This afternoon as I participate in the ordination of a friend into the priesthood of the Alternative Catholic Church I will be sharing in such a use of words; it is a real privilege to participate in such sacred rituals, words, and spaces.

According to Scripture, there was a time when God uttered a Word in just such a life-changing and instrumental way.

The prologue to John’s gospel describes it for us this morning.

Actually from the beginning to its end the Bible testifies again and again to the power of what God accomplishes through a word.

Listen one more time to the beginning verses from the gospel of John, “In the beginning was the Word, in the beginning was the Word, not the deed,

And the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

The very first book in the Bible, Genesis declares, “God said, Let there be light, and there was light.”

God did not build some kind of light-generating machine; God spoke light into being.

In fact, on each day of creation we are told that God spoke a truly creative word for the creation of the stars, the sky, the land, the seas, the plants and animals, and even for human beings.

The creativity and power of God’s Word reaches its peak in the New Testament, when God’s Word becomes human and lives among us in the person of Jesus the Christ.

NO longer limited to speech, now God’s Word actually takes human form and begins to walk among us as a living, breathing expression of God’s power, truth, and grace.

Now, Word, deed, flesh and spirit all come together in Jesus to show us most clearly what God desires for each of us.

What does Jesus, God’s Word, teach us about what God desires for us: in a word, transformation.

The gospel of John tells us that the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen God’s glory, grace and truth in him; Jesus made God known to us.

This was not easy.

John tells us that “Jesus was in the world…yet the world did not know him. When he came to his own, his own people did not accept him.” [John 1:10-11]

The truth is that Words often have to overcome tremendous resistance and rejection before they can change the world- just ask anyone who works for justice and social, political change!

Why else are there so many books like “Stubborn Twig” and “Snow Falling on Cedar” written, and plays and movies produced about the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII if not because it takes many words, and repeated stories to begin to make permanent change.

The goal is to change this past injustice so another injustice will never replace it, not only for Japanese-Americans, but for ALL people.

The gospel of John reminds us, “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born not of blood or the will of the flesh, but of God.” [John 1:12-13]

The point is that transformation begins when a word is received, and a person begins to believe it.

When we receive what God is saying to us through Jesus, and when we believe it, than our lives are changed forever; because it is then we discover that we are eternally loved and guided by the very One who created us and the world we live in.

Now we may begin to have a fresh perspective on God, and what God desires for this world and for our lives.

As John expresses it, “From his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” [John 1:17-17]

The Word of God has come to us in Jesus to do the work of transformation, shifting our perspective from law and condemnation to grace and truth.

Grace and truth: these are not merely words; they are the new reality that God is already creating through Jesus Christ.

So, how do we receive this Word from God and these words of Jesus; how do we believe them and allow them to work real change in us and in the world?

As we begin a New Year, there really is no more important question to focus on.

1. Receive: receiving grace means accepting God’s love as a pure gift- a gift that comes to us unearned, undeserved and unsolicited, out of the endless expanse of God’s loving heart. God loves and accepts us simply because God wants to love and accept us. There is no good we can do to get God to love us more, and there is nothing we can do to make God love us less. The love that comes to us through Jesus the Christ is overflowing and unconditional; as John puts is, “grace upon grace.” [John 1:16]

2. Believe: Along with receiving God’s grace comes believing God’s truth, the truth revealed through the life and teaching of Jesus. This is a truth that has the power to change the world. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday we celebrate this month, once shocked our society with a profoundly simple and truthful Christian message. This was in the midst of intense racial inequality and injustice not only in the South but all across the nation and the world. In many ways it was not unlike our world today. During a Sunday morning sermon at Montgomery’s Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Rev. King was preaching about Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. At the end of the message Rev. King concluded with these words, “As I look into your eyes and into the eyes of all my brothers [and sisters] in Alabama and all over America and over the world, I say to you, ‘I love you. I would rather die than hate you.’

As we enter this New Year and decade together, may this statement, so beautiful and so radical, so challenging and so Christ-centered, be our as well: “I love you. I would rather die than hate you.”

May this be a truth we can embrace today, and put to work through our lives to transform our world.

Amen.

Unison Prayer following Communion:

I believe in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God- the source of all light and life. I believe that God sent Jesus the Christ into this world so that all may be bathed in divine light and know the true source of life. On the witness of the disciples, I believe that Jesus was crucified, died and buried- then brought back to life that we may also have new life. I believe the Word of God still speaks today to those who have ears and hearts to listen. I believe, with the power of the Holy Spirit, that my life can be a witness to God’s living presence and grace. Amen.