Christmas I (John 1:1-18) In the beginning was the Word.

All things in this universe of matter, energy, time and space have a beginning. All things in this universe are subject to the law of cause and effect. And all things in this universe reflect a pattern. That pattern can be described by the physical laws that govern the universe.

Modern science generally confines itself to observation, description and experimentation within that pattern. The ancient Greeks asked themselves what they considered was a logical question. If everything in the universe has a beginning and it subject to the law of cause and effect then what caused the universe? What is the First Cause of all things? What is the uncaused cause of the entire pattern and process?

The answer the Greeks proposed is the logos. The logos is the uncaused cause of the pattern of cause and effect. Based on observation of the natural world, the Greeks proposed that the pattern of the universe, of nature, derives from a transcendent and eternal pattern. That pattern reflects in the universe as being rational, active, dynamic, creative and spontaneous. That pattern, the logos, is the Word.

When the beloved apostle John introduced the story of Jesus to the Greek speaking world, he used this concept of the logos, the word. John boldly declares that Jesus of Nazareth is the logos, the eternal transcendent Word, appearing and embodied at a particular time, place and person.

John reflected on an esoteric philosophical concept and personalized it. John personalized it because John experienced the logos in person. And, John formed his experience of that person, Jesus, in the context of his mother Mary’s wisdom and insight.

The Bible is a book of human observation and human experience. Moses and the prophets record their impressions of human behavior in the context of their relationship with God. The Biblical writers never directly present rational logical proofs for the existence of God. What they do is to record their experience of the world as it is in the context of their experience of the God who is.

The Christian Faith is an experience of life in the context of a personal relationship with the Logos, the Word of God made flesh in Jesus Christ. John the Beloved invites the people of his time and all time to enter into this personal relationship.

The apostle Paul comments on this reality when he reflects: the Greeks seek rational analytical proof. The Jews seeks miraculous demonstrations of power. God offers a personal relationship with himself in Jesus Christ.

John encourages us to experience God not just speculate about God or demand favors of God. John and Mary demonstrate a new way of living in the context of the logos, the Word of God. That experience of a new way of living is love. For Mary it started with the love of a mother for her son. For John it was the love of a friend. For both, Jesus met them within the love they could experience and then invited them to experience the infinite and eternal love of the Holy and Blessed Trinity.

The Logos, the Word of God, the transcendent pattern of the universe is the Love of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit that creates, sustains and transforms the universe and each of us. The logos is universal, it is particular and it is personal. The pattern of love embedded in the universe  is three fold. That pattern is love of God through worship on the Seventh Day, the day of real presence. It is the love of others through acts of compassion and charity. Human frailty and human need is a pattern by which we participate in divine compassion. And, there is love of self through personal transformation in the beauty of holiness. Our ability to choose, grow and transform is the third strand in the three fold pattern of love that gives form to the universe.

The three fold pattern of Love is worship, compassion and personal transformation. It is in that pattern and process that Jesus meets us, reveals himself to us and unfolds the infinite and eternal Great Mystery of the Trinity and the Incarnation.

John invites us to enter into a new life and a new way of living in a personal relationship with Jesus, the Word of God made flesh.