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The right word at important moments are crucial, and yet we are often so casual with our use of words. For instance, how often do you say “I love you,” without first considering what that really means? Have you ever said, “I’ll pray for you,” but then don’t. Or maybe “call me if you need help,” and later worried that maybe they will call and you won’t know what to do?
How often do we simply say what we think needs to be said, as if we are just doing what we think is required?
When a child gets angry and says to a parent, “I hate you,” do they understand what they have said? Do Dad and Mom overreact because they think that is what their child really means? How careful are you with the words you use?
Consider how different a word looks in an email, without being able to see or feel the speaker’s expression. Words are too important to treat casually. And “faith” words, are the most important of all. Words are our pipeline to God.
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Everything that is began with a word spoken by God. a word from God. In the beginning, God spoke, and his voice boomed “light” into being. Like a powerful wind, his words separated waters from dry land, and then created sun, moon, mountains, butterflies, babies, and everything that is. ” and it was so.
Certainly, we can watch a sunset, a child being born, or a whale rising out of the water and we get a feel or taste of God and the majesty of his power. But words are what give us the specifics we need to understand God’s purpose and call for our living.
John began his Gospel reminding is God’s Word in the flesh! He is the living word that birthed galaxies and shaped baby animals. John proclaims, “the Word became flesh.” Don’t let that image get lost! It is one of the most profound statements in all of Scripture! The WORD of Creation transformed into an infant in a manger so that that God’s Words would have flesh and bone!
God is not lost in space but is present in the confines of our world and our history. It began with a baby. As that baby grew into an adult, so our understanding of what God says and means grows in our hearts and minds and God’s words take on shape and meaning and passion and love.
Psalm 36 has a wonderful phrase: “in your light we see light.” Think about the poetry of those words. God’s first gift of creation was Light. And now in the glow of an infant in a manger we have seen the same Light that began creation. Here is good news: Jesus IS the Light of the world!
I began by asking how you choose words. How you listen to words. I do so because our faith is tied up in the only Word that brings life. Shepherds heard words of angels and saw a promise fulfilled. They shared words with their friends to share that same Light. Wise men saw a glimmer of created light in the dark sky that brought them to see the Word made flesh living with Mary and Joseph.
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Today, words are used in such casual ways. We tweet and then we delete. We send emails before we even consider the impact of our words. Before the gift of writing, spoken words were the only words. Contracts were spoken, love was shared, and directions were given. Once spoken, a word couldn’t be taken back. Once uttered, words couldn’t be erased, or deleted with click of key or mouse. People knew to be careful about what they said, and listeners depended on body language and tone to make sure they understood each word. That has changed.
Too often, because sin has crept into our lives our words have become casual, and we often fail to consider enough what we say and hear. Are the words “love, honor, and cherish until death do us part” a formula, a hope or a promise? When hurt someone and say “sorry!” Am I really, or is that only a magic phrase to protect me from considering the pain or disappointment I have caused? But more importantly, how does the Word of Creation shape the words of my living?
Are New Year’s resolutions merely hopes and dreams, or are they serious commitments? And what about “faith?” Is that just a throw away word or fuel for our living? We have spent so much passion and love on our Christmas words – will they live, or fade like hollow echoes?
We are too conditioned to sloppy use of words. Songs get old. Promises get broken. Words are used when they are convenient and forgotten when they are not. Our efforts are often well intended, but too easily we can slip back into familiar lifestyles. But the Living Word – God in the flesh – reveals the dark stuff that has been all around (an eye opener!) AND CHANGES THE DARKNESS!
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When my daughter, Abby, was in preschool, we had a wonderful snowfall several days after Christmas. We all know there is nothing more exciting for a child than fresh snow, especially when the joy of Christmas is still bubbling away. She begged to go play in the snow. Once dressed in a snowsuit, gloves, cap and boots she ran and immediately laid on her back in the snow. She started swinging arms and legs back and forth. We laughed as we watched her making a snow angel! And it was an energetic one at that.
As I watched more closely, I saw her lips moving and realized she was talking. I didn’t want to distract her, so I quietly slid open the back door only to hear her saying, over and over again, “Don’t be afraid! Don’t be afraid!” I told Roxanne what I heard. At first it didn’t click, but then we understood! She was repeating the words of angels to shepherds, “Don’t be afraid! Don’t be afraid!”
The Christmas story had energized her imagination. She wasn’t just making a snow angel; she WAS the Christmas angel in the snow! “Don’t be afraid! Don’t be afraid!” It reminded me how much kids really do listen and remember. And that is how the Christmas story touched her heart. When I was a kid, we only made show angels so we could stand back and see what we had created. Her acting career started early as she had become an angel in the snow, and her role was to repeat the good news of Christmas. “Don’t be afraid!”
What better message is there for any of us today? Whether to shepherds near Bethlehem, or to a little girl hearing the story in church, or the world around us today, what better message is there for us to hear than “Don’t be afraid?” Because a baby was born in Bethlehem there is nothing that can ever separate us from God’s love. And that love brings peace to any conflict or pain or fear. “Don’t be afraid!” What good news! And what a great memory for me!
So, pay attention to your words by letting them be guided by the important Word that took flesh in a manger. Don’t live as if nothing special has just been celebrated. Don’t leave Christmas gifts opened but gathering dust. The Word has burst on the scene. It is now that Word the world around you is waiting to hear. What will each breath you take witness about the gift of the Christ child in the manger? Remember, the manger isn’t something we ever leave behind, it is where we have been born, and where our words begin to have life!