This is my manuscript for my first in-class sermon for Introduction to Preaching"
In the beginning there was darkness. There was no earth, only total and complete darkness; a darkness so thick that you wouldn’t be able to see your hand right in front of your face. Then the voice of God Almighty thundered through the darkness. With the Word of God creation took place. With the simple Word, light spewed forth from the mouth of God. This light came into creation and walked with his special creation: mankind. The light was bright among men and all creation but then darkness creeped into this picturesque creation. A snake slithered in and deceitfully convinced God’s special to rebel against him. God took care of this darkness and restored the light in part with some restrictions. But darkness came, yet again, into this existence. This darkness increased and the light decreased. Darkness overtook God’s special creation and God did something about it. God destroyed the creation that was overtaken by darkness and left the light.
John 1:1-5 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Light again moved into the center stage. God’s special creation, mankind, again grew and populated the earth. God then chose a man and promised blessings over him and his supernaturally-provided family. Things were bright for a while but creation soon turned into a cycle of intense light followed by intense darkness. Light and then darkness. From light to dark and back again. Even when the light was bright, it only shined in one part of a dark world and was governed by the Law. And then it happened. God said, “I wish that one of you would just shut the temple doors,” and then he stopped speaking. Darkness seemed complete again. No words booming through the sky, no crazy prophets coming from the mountains, no dreams, no visions, and no still small voice. 420 years of complete silence and complete darkness.
And then it happened again: a small light appeared in the distance. There was a crazy man in the woods that started talking about a light that was coming. He would say, “The light is coming! Prepare yourselves and repent! The kingdom of God is near! I am not the light, but the light is coming!”
John 1:6-8 6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
The light rested in Bethleham. The light of the world inside a small baby. The hope of glory and the bringer of grace and truth was inside the inconspicuous Jewish boy. No crowns, no jewels, no crowns. Just a seemingly regular Jewish boy. But this boy was anything but regular. He brought light to the world. He was the Word of God which lived among the very thing it created. Moses brought Law but he brought something different: grace and truth. He came to save the world and offered the chance for his special creation to become children of God and filled with light. But there is something funny about those who live in the darkness: they like it there. They rejected the opportunity to step into the light and looked for an opportunity to extinguish it. They eventually decided they would kill this Jewish man and that is exactly what they did.
John 1:9-13 9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Again the world seemed plunged into darkness. This darkness was so complete that the sun wouldn’t show. Then one morning, one Sunday morning we will never forget, the tomb the buried that man in was empty. An angel stood close by and said that this man had risen from the dead! He was dead and now he was alive! This man appeared to his disciples and showed them that he was alive and they were amazed. Light burst forth from the empty tomb in the world and this light was placed into everyone who would simply believe this story, this crazy story that the Word of God came and lived with us and dwelt among us. That the light of the world took on complete darkness, died, with it, and defeated it by rising from the dead and leaving it in the tomb. Now we can all become children of God. We can receive a grace that was almost unimaginable before. No one has seen God our Father but he has been reveal to us through this light and Word in whom we have salvation!
John 1:14-18 14And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15( John bore witness about him, and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.'") 16And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
John paints a beautiful picture in this passage of the Gospel. The pure and simple Good News of Jesus Christ. From the beginning, he points back to creation showing how God was working throughout history to bring Jesus. Jesus was not plan B and was not the last resort. Jesus provides us with a unique opportunity to become children of God Almighty and carriers of the light just as he was. This was God’s plan from the very beginning. He put his son into his creation to redeem it and then plans to use his creation to spread the news about his son and about the light.
We have all received this light and we all carry it inside of us. We are all minister of this light and have the amazing opportunity to be ministers of reconciliation by sharing this story with those around us and letting the light increase and pushing back darkness. We are called to live in a way that the world sees us as lights shining in the darkness. Like lighthouses on the shore, we should be guarding against the destruction of the world.
Believe in this light and word as they are revealed to us in scripture. Accept the calling to which you were called and walk in light as carriers of light to bring those walking in darkness home to the Father. Today, walk with the Word and walk in Light.
