Pastor Dismer’s sermon for Christmas Day, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2008:

“God created the world with his word - the word we can trust; the word who came on Christmas to dwell with us.”

John 1:1-14

When I was a child, I learned this saying to use on the playground when someone called me a name:

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never harm me.”

It was supposed to help, but I think for anyone child who was called “sissy,” or “stupid,” or “4-eyes” (which was a mean thing to say to anyone wearing glasses in those days!) the reality was that being called such a name did hurt.

I think of names that are used to hurt people today: geek, nerd, elite, jock, liberal, conservative. These are just words, but think of the power they have to affect the self-esteem, the sense of worth, the sense of not belonging that they can create.

Do words have power? Imagine a young man asking a young woman to marry him. His request and her answer – “Yes” – will literally change both their lives radically.

Do words have power? Today I can phone our son simply by saying his name out loud to my cell phone.

Our daughter had her phone set up this way to call her husband until the day when she was in the car talking to a friend and said her husband’s name. Her phone dutifully called him, and he listened to a strange conversation he wasn’t any part of.

Do words have power? Think of the effect of words such as “You’re hired,” or “You’re fired”; words such as “friend,” “enemy,” “I love you” or “I hate you.”

In our gospel today, we are introduced to Jesus as God’s word: A word that was there from the beginning; a word that became flesh. What does it mean? What did it mean to the gospel writer and what does it mean to us on this holy day?

Let’s begin to answer these questions by examining God’s word. The writer of the first book in the Bible, the book of Genesis, said that God created the world with his word!

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth . . . And God said, ”Let there be light,” and there was light . . . And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let the dry land appear,” . . . “Let the land produce vegetation,” . . . “Let there be lights in the sky to separate the day from the night,” . . . “Let the water teem with living creatures,” . . .”Let the land produce living creatures . . . And GOD said “Let us make man in our image.”

God’s word, which created the world and everything in it, God’s word, which was there from the beginning, God’s word, on this holy day, became flesh in order to live among us.

The only way the Hebrew people knew God was by God’s word. God’s word created the world. God spoke his word, over and over again to the Hebrew people, to Abraham and his descendents, to the prophets and priests, to leaders such as Moses, and kings such as David.

The Hebrew people knew that what God spoke would be so. From all their history and experience, they knew that God’s word was to be trusted; God’s promises were kept; what God declared would happen, did.

And when God directed the Hebrew people to build a tabernacle – a tent – so that he could dwell with them, they built it, and it became, to them, a holy place where God could always be found.

The idea of God “tabernacling” with his people, of God “pitching his tent” and dwelling with his people is found in three different parts of the Bible.

It is in the book of Exodus, the second book in the Bible, where God directed the people to build the tabernacle in which he would dwell.

And here, in the first chapter of John’s gospel, where the words echo the first words of Genesis, we are told that in the beginning the word was with God . . . and this word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

For John, this is the God who was known by his word, spoken by prophets and priests and kings. This is the God for whom the Hebrews built a tabernacle, a holy place where they could know him. This is the God who has now come to dwell – in the flesh – among his people.

Karen and I went to Northfield, Minn. recently, to attend the St. Olaf Christmas concert. One of the carols sung by one of the choirs had these beautiful and amazing words:

“Great little one, who’s all embracing birth, lifts earth to heaven, stoops heaven to earth.”

This is what God did in coming to earth to tabernacle among us – to “pitch his tent” here and live as a human in our world.

He brought heaven to earth, and lifted earth to heaven. On this holy day, God’s love for us was made physically tangible – God’s word became flesh – and connected us with heaven.

For a time God’s word could be seen, walking about on the earth, touching, healing, forgiving; God’s word could be seen, blessing the children, comforting the grieving, hanging on a cross.

This, John tells us in his gospel, is the word made flesh, God dwelling among us.

In the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, also believed to be written by John, we have a final announcement of God’s word, dwelling with us at the end of time.

John wrote: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth . . . and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or pain . . . the old order of things has passed away . . . I am making everything new . . . Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true . . . It is done. I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.

Our beautiful Christmas story comes in the middle of the story of God’s word dwelling with us.

We are reminded on this holy day that God, whose word invited his people to meet him in a holy place, and whose word came to earth for a time to live with us, bringing heaven to earth, is the God whose promise is to one day lift us to heaven, where he will dwell with us forever.

This is God, the word we can trust; the word who came on Christmas to dwell with us, and who comes this Christmas to dwell within us.

This is the word whose power can change and redeem and direct our lives. This is the word whose promises we can trust, whose love for us will be with us to the end of time, and beyond. This is the word who meets us this holy day, as a child, in Bethlehem. Amen.