The Word

 

When my granddaughter and I start painting the end result is always colourful and unique. In fact there are definitely no other paintings quite like ours anywhere! These works of art are regularly hung, that is with blue tack, on the kitchen wall. And when either of us decides to go it alone and produce our individual works there is always mutual appreciation.

  I say to her: “That’s brilliant!”

She says to me:  “That’s cool!”

It’s words of encouragement all round.

When John wrote his gospel he used language and concepts that were familiar in Greek and Hebrew cultures. He recognised for example the Greek idea of a supreme mind ordering the universe and the Hebrew belief in an almighty creative power.

  This ‘power’ John identified as The Word and went on to make the unique claim that that Word was revealed in the man Jesus – the life and the light of mankind.

“The Word” John writes about is not an idea. In his Gospel the power of the cosmos and all creation is not a philosophy, a notion, a point of view. That power is The Word, a person – ‘The Word made flesh” – who walked around, came down to earth, speaking words of encouragement and revelation to us all.

A tour guide was showing people around a very ancient university campus. They arrived at a small dusty room and the guide in hushed tones whispered: “Theologians have been discussing the idea of The Word in this room for 600 years”. At that a voice at the back piped up: “Have they decided anything yet?”

 

The ancient fathers of the Church, notably Irenaeus, studied and discussed the theology of The Word ad infinitum. They came down to earth with a very succinct piece of advice. “Beware the danger of too many detailed speculations!”

The important thing is that “The Word” comes to us in human and ordinary terms. The Word communicates with us. The Word tells us about God and shows us what God is like.

Of course discussions continue to dissect the Lord’s humanity. Jesus – is he human and divine? We must never push illustrations too far but think of two substances – water and sugar. When they are mixed the two permeate each other.

In the Book of Proverbs the poet suggests that the Creator, the Word, is like a creative woman. The Almighty is personalised and represented in the sensitive and beautiful nature of this woman.

The poet also suggests that there is a childlike innocence and wonder in the heart of God. And there is a wonderful harmony in the scriptures between the masculine and the feminine attributes of the creative loving of God, which are all drawn together in Christ.

Such images remind us that faith is not just about knowing lots of clever things. Faith is about beautiful things. It’s about being excited by the wonders of creation all around us. It’s about enjoying the innocence of discovery. It’s about being good friends. It’s about words of encouragement.

So, like C S Lewis, we are surprised by joy, for we know God quite well. He is Jesus – God’s word living with us – loving, healing and teaching.

But we need to look and listen.

There was a young, successful executive who was travelling in his brand new Mercedes across a very run down, poor part of town. It was a powerful car, wonderful design, real cool! His pride and joy

As he moved down a street he thought he saw something move by the kerbside. Then a brick smashed into the car’s side door. He slammed on the brakes and spun the Mercedes round back to the spot where the brick had been thrown.

He jumped out of the car, grabbed a young boy and started shouting at him. “What was that all about? Just what the heck are you doing? That’s a new car and that brick is going to cost you a lot of money. Why did you do it?”

“I’m sorry,” said the young lad. “I didn’t know what else to do. I threw the brick because no one else would stop.” Then he pointed around the parked car. “It’s my brother”, he said. “He rolled off the kerb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can’t lift him up. Please help me get him back into his wheelchair. He’s hurt and he’s too heavy for me.”

The young executive was shocked and deeply moved by the young boy’s plea for help. He immediately lifted the boy into the wheelchair and made sure everything was put right. “Thank you” said the boy.

The man watched as the pair headed for home. He slowly got back into the Mercedes. He never did repair the side door. He kept the dent to remind him not to go through life so fast that someone in need has to throw a brick at you to get your attention.

God’s Word speaks to us and prompts us to all good works if we are prepared to listen. The trouble is we are often occupied with all the everyday things – the new car, eating, socialising, and spending money. Then it occurs to us to ask ourselves what on earth are we here for?

Such questions are good for us. They stir us out of complacency and help us to tune in to the living Word of God.

When we take in the good news given to us by The Word – then we recognise how accessible and approachable God is in Christ, in the breaking of bread, in the sharing of the cup.

In this Holy Communion we can say, “Lord you know how it is!” So we hope that Christ with us in all his creative power fashions ‘swords into ploughshares’, inspires justice and dignity for every person, shows compassion, feeds the hungry.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu could have locked himself away in a room having endless discussions on theology but he chose to come down to earth, into the townships of South Africa, working for justice and never content until the evil of apartheid was finally overcome.

Albert Schweitzer earned numerous doctorates, medical degrees and was an authority on Bach. He listened to the Word of God prompting him to a life of service. He came down to earth in the hellish, disease-ridden jungles of the Central Africa serving those who had nothing. His life was an act of grace.

Two individual examples of people inspired by The Word to do great things, memorable individuals among so many too numerous to mention.

And in the hearts and minds of ordinary people, in people who will never feature in the record books, we see the power of God’s creative love.  We see it in their words and in their acts of kindness, in their caring skills and in their patient determination to find reconciliation. In such things, in down to earth terms, we see ‘ grace and truth.’ 

If we could paint a picture with all the colours and beautiful images of God’s love in our lives what a dynamic and inspiring work it would be.

  Now that would be cool!

 Amen.