Christmastide! And God Became Small . . .

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John 1:1-14, The Message

The Word was first,
the Word present to God,
    God present to the Word.
The Word was God,
    in readiness for God from day one.

Everything was created through him;
    nothing—not one thing!—
    came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life,
    and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
    the darkness couldn’t put it out.

There once was a man, his name John, sent by God to point out the way to the Life-Light. He came to show everyone where to look, who to believe in. John was not himself the Light; he was there to show the way to the Light.

The Life-Light was the real thing:
    Every person entering Life
    he brings into Light.
He was in the world,
    the world was there through him,
    and yet the world didn’t even notice.
He came to his own people,
    but they didn’t want him.
But whoever did want him,
    who believed he was who he claimed
    and would do what he said,
He made to be their true selves,
    their child-of-God selves.
These are the God-begotten,
    not blood-begotten,
    not flesh-begotten,
    not sex-begotten.

The Word became flesh and blood,
    and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
    the one-of-a-kind glory,
    like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
    true from start to finish.

Oh, how I love this piece of scripture. I memorized it several years ago, in this version. Something about the clarity of the language rings in my ears, stirs my heart.

The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood . . .

May you see Jesus in your neighborhood this Christmas Day, my friends. May you keep discovering your true self, your child-of-God self. And may you share that self with all those whom you meet this day and into the new year ahead.

Merry Christmas, Everyone!!

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Comments

  1. Merry Christmas!

    The life-light was the real thing. O Hallelujah!

  2. Thank you so much for sharing this Diana! Somehow I had never bumped into this scripture in The Message and yes, the language is marvelous and deeply inspiring. Merry Christmas!

  3. Post-Christmas at our house has been every bit as busy as pre-Christmas! Still trying to catch up on email, blogging, and Facebook. Thank you, Diana, for your prayer for us, that we discover more of our true selves, our child- of- God selves, and share that identity with those we meet. Such a meaningful focus to begin 2015!