I had the opportunity to share this Christmas Reflection in worship this morning.
And with you now.
Christmas blessing!

In the beginning
The very beginning
The first word spoken by the great God Almighty
In that instant before creation exploded into being
Rushing headlong to take its place
In that great expanse and mystery we call space.
The first word spoken by the great God Almighty was
Immanuel.
God with us and God within us.
God with moonbeams and mountains.
God with Father Adam and Mother Eve.
God with.

And God with eventually Jesus.
Imagined by God
Dreamed into being by God
From the very beginning
From that very first instant
When creation rushed headlong to take its place.
Jesus
Who somehow heard the reverberations of that very first Word
Which echoes still
Bouncing off the ends of space and human hearts
Jesus who heard the Word
And began singing It
And saying It
And living It
Until he became It.
So much so
That when others looked at him they saw something of God
When others listened to him they heard something of God
When they walked with him they found themselves walking with God.

That very first Word
The one Jesus heard and then became
Waits now as it waited then.
Not it solemn stillness waits
But waits
Nearly drowned out by the rumblings of war
And the groans of the weary
And sometimes by the songs of the pious.
Waiting now as it has always waited
For someone else to hear the Word
Which reverberates still
Waiting for someone else to sing the song
For someone else to allow
Some small part of that first Word of creation
To penetrate their heart
And to prick their conscience
And to find someplace within them
Deep within them.
So deep within them that it begins to take over
So each breath taken recaptures a wisp of that very first breath
That spun the stars in their courses.
So that each word carries with it an echo of that very first Word
So that each act becomes an act
Of dreaming into being that great Dream of God.
Takes over them like it took over Jesus
Like it has taken over others
Turning life upside down and inside out
Until they see
And you see
And I see
Creation as it was imagined in that very first instant
And not how it is today.

And in that moment when the very first word
Of the great God Almighty
Breaks
Through our facade
And through our resistance
Incarnation happens again
And again
And, thank God, again.
And in the end is this not really what it is all about?
All our carols
All our candlelight
All our comings and goings
That this first Word of God
Spoken from the very beginning
Is not past tense, but present tense
Not was, but is
Not then, but now
Not him, but you
And is that not our biggest challenge
And our most promising hope?

In the beginning
The very beginning
The first word spoken by the great God Almighty
In that instant before creation exploded into being
Rushing headlong to take its place
In that great expanse and mystery we call space
The first word spoken by the great God Almighty
Was
Is
Immanuel.