A daily reflection drawing from Advent Bible passages – to help us grow as we live out our faith in the everyday moments of life.
Hello and welcome back to another week of The Advent Collective. We are on day 14 and I can’t believe how fast the time has gone!
Throughout this series of podcasts we have seen that Advent is a season of hope, promise and preparation and I think our passage today sums that all up.
The passage I am talking about is John 1:1-15.
I have to say, I am quite familiar with this passage. I lived in Northern Ireland for 12 years and throughout my teenage years I was given the job of reading this passage at our Christmas Day service every year (I mean that is pretty much what happens when your dad is the pastor!) But even though I say I am familiar with the passage, it doesn’t mean that I understand it and see the significance of it. I ended up seeing it as a script that I would just reel off every year making sure it was clear and word perfect and was constantly seeking approval afterwards as to whether I sounded okay (I am a Musical Theatre performer and studied it and uni so this really comes as no surprise) so with that being said I wasn’t thinking about the message that was being delivered. But it hasn’t been until reading it through and picking it apart for this podcast that I finally started to understand the significance of this passage and why I believe it is used at this time of year – Advent.
One thing that really stands out to me is the word light. Jesus is the light. The light that shines in the darkness. 9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
As the beginning of this passage states that even in the beginning the word was with God and the word was God – He planned for Jesus’s birth since the beginning of time. That word then became flesh and dwelt among us, He came to live among us. I mean the title of this passage pretty much tells us that – The word became Flesh. How amazing is that?! God sent Jesus and had his life planned out years and years before he was born, to be the light of the world – and that, He was. The reason He came was to be the one and only way to the Father, He came to dwell with us and died for our sins and rose again, so that one day we may dwell with Him in Heaven forever – if we put our trust in Him and believe His word that was set from the beginning.
Helen summed it up perfectly about Advent. Advent is a season of hope, promise and preparation but I would love to add another word to the summary of Advent and that is light. There’s so many examples of how Jesus is the light but you and I both know that we could be here all day so I’ll leave you with one final thought for us.
How can we bring light in to what is a dark time for our world at the moment (sorry yes, I am talking about the C word). Like John the Baptist we are a witness to testify concerning the light in the hope that through him all might believe. So how can we do that? Advent is the perfect time to spread the good news of Jesus, and how He is the light of the world. Carols in the Street and the advent packs that have been made up recently that have been delivered to our communities are some of the many ideas that come to mind when I think of this.
So I have a question for you… In a time when we are socially distanced and feel isolated and apart. How can we show that Jesus is light and be a witness of that to those around us this Advent season?
Let’s encourage and work with each other to do this as best we can – teamwork makes the dreamwork.
Let us pray
Lord, I thank you for this time spent together looking through your word. I thank you for sending your son, Jesus to come and dwell among us and be the light in the darkness, so that we may have a relationship with Him and be a witness to the light like John the Baptist. As we move closer into this Advent season I pray that we can share this with those around us. Give us courage Lord.
Amen.