Advent Devotion – December 21 – Sherard Edington

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

John 1:1-5

Scripture: John 1:1-5
The word “beginning” is such a wonderful word. A beginning is a time when everything is fresh and new with no bad habits or practices to mar the moment. Beginnings are times of excitement and possibilities— the beginning of a school year, the beginning of a marriage, the beginning of a life.

The quintessential beginning, of course, is God’s creation of the cosmos when the earth was without form and was covered in darkness. Into this chaos God forged order—the framework for creation—and ushered in life.

But as the story tells us, this creation did not remain whole for long and the inhabitants of this new world quickly introduced sin into their pristine reality and marred what God had conceived.

The opening of the Gospel of John reflects that first creation by reminding us that “In the beginning was the Word.” The Word is what happens when God speaks; it is God’s power; it is God’s being; it is God.

The Word has been with us from the beginning. And now, as the Gospel proclaims, the Word comes to us as Jesus. He is Emmanuel — God with us. God comes to us as Jesus, as one of us, to guide us beyond that sin which pollutes our reality.

In Jesus, we discover the joy of a new beginning.

Advent is an odd time of year. We call it the beginning of the church year and yet it takes place at the end of our calendar year. But Advent is a new beginning. Each year, it serves as a reminder that God is with us bringing the promise of creation, the promise to right what we have wronged, the promise to forgive us and make us new.

The Rev. Sherard Edington