Wesley Word-Dec. 22, 2021

Jessica Hall   -   December 22, 2021

To go along with service on: Sunday, December 26, 2021 

Experiencing Grace

Exploring Truth
Signs of the Season: The Sign of the Word Made Flesh
John 1:1-18

We are finishing our Advent series, Signs of the Season, with the Sign of the Word Made Flesh. Our text this week comes from what is called the prologue of the Gospel of John. While Matthew and Luke spend a great deal of time telling us about the story of Jesus’ birth and the events that surrounded it, and the Gospel of Mark has no Incarnation story at all, but simply begins at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. The Gospel of John uses its opening verses to dig into the theology of the Incarnation. 

John goes to great lengths to demonstrate to us that the Word, Jesus, is the pre-existent, eternal, divine, Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, and that this Word actually became flesh and dwelt Among Us. That is the Incarnation, God in the Flesh. 

The Word made flesh came into the world to bring light and life, eternal life, to the world. John is very clear that not all people will accept the light and life Jesus is offering them. They reject the light because their deeds are evil and they want to keep doing them. (John 3:19) However, to those who do accept the life and light of Jesus, to those who receive him and believe in his name, he gives the right to become the children of God. According to the Bible, all people are created by God and loved by God; God wants all people to come to him, but only those who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior can properly be called the children of God.

As children of God, our mission is the same as John’s was: to bear witness to the light in this dark world and to invite others to come into the light and have eternal life. We have a promise that no matter how dark it gets, the darkness cannot overcome the light. 

Questions for Reflection/Discussion:

  1. Where in the world do you see darkness now? Where do you see light?

New Testament in a Year: https://wesleyonline.org/biblereading/

  • January 1 Matthew 1:1-2:12 
  • January 2 Matthew 2:13-3:6
  • January 3 Matthew 3:7-4:11
  • January 4 Matthew 4:12-25
  • January 5 Matthew 5:1-26

Expressing Love: Family/Mission Activity

God is Light: Pass out a glow stick to everyone and then turn out the lights. Talk about how darkness can seem scary or lonely, but when there is light, even a little light, the darkness doesn’t seem so scary and overwhelming. Glow sticks are small, but can overcome darkness. When Jesus was born, he brought light into the darkness (sin). You might choose to go look at Christmas lights as a family. Talk about how much joy the Christmas lights bring to the darkness. We are called to share the light of Jesus, always, but the light is especially exciting this time of year. There is so much joy in the birth of Jesus and the hope he brings to us. We want to share that with others, and spread more and more “light” around the world. The more light (Jesus’ love) we can spread, the less darkness (sin) there will be. 

Announcements:

  • Christmas Eve at Wesley
    • 6:00 Contemporary Candlelight Communion Service
    • 10:00 Traditional Candlelight Communion Service (with 9:30 organ recital by Sally Potter)
  • Christmas Season Sunday Service Schedule
    • December 26 – One Service at 10:00am.  No Sunday School.
    • January 2 – One Service at 10:00am.  No Sunday School.
    • January 9 – Regular Sunday Schedule
  • WOW (Worship on Wednesdays) Resumes January 5th