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Gospel: John 1: 1-18
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 to be through him,
and without him nothing came to be.
What came to be through him was life,
and this life was the light of the human race;
the light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.
A man named John was sent from God.
He came for testimony, to testify to the light,
so that all might believe through him.
He was not the light,
but came to testify to the light.
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world,
and the world came to be through him,
but the world did not know him.
He came to what was his own,
but his own people did not accept him.
But to those who did accept him
he gave power to become children of God,
to those who believe in his name,
who were born not by natural generation
nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision
but of God.
And the Word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us,
and we saw his glory,
the glory as of the Father’s only-begotten Son,
full of grace and truth.
John testified to him and cried out, saying,
“This was he of whom I said,
‘The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me
because he existed before me.’”
From his fullness we have all received,
grace in place of grace,
because while the law was given through Moses,
grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God.
The only-begotten Son, God, who is at the Father’s side,
has revealed him.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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The first thing I do when I start a puzzle is spread out all of the pieces across a large table.
One piece turns into a cluster – and then several clusters – and finally a picture starts to emerge.
Once the puzzle is completed, it’s helpful to look back, remembering how it all began.
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In today’s Gospel, John builds upon the Book of Genesis, describing the beginning of the world. It began as a dark formless waste, with mighty winds sweeping across the waters.
Slowly, God ordered the chaos. Day by day, piece by piece, he assembled the world into a suitable home for humanity. Billions of years passed until finally, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
These are things that only God can do: turn the darkness into light; chaos into order; take on flesh and dwell among us, ultimately turning death into life.
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We still need that divine, creative power at work in our world today.
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Looking back over the year, we can see the challenge.
2024 looks like a thousand puzzle pieces strewn across a table. There was war, social unrest, a divisive election, and whatever struggles we dealt with personally – pieces that may make little sense to us now.
But God can bring them all together, producing a meaningful story of human resilience and divine intervention if we ask him.
Perhaps that’s the best way to end this year and begin another one, to say with open hearts, “Welcome, Lord Jesus.”
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