SCRIPTURE: John 1:14 (TM) – larger
reading John 1:14-18
The Word became flesh and
blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the
one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from
start to finish.
STORY:
Lee
Eclov tells the story: “People came early one Christmas Eve for the 11:00 pm
service at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, in New York City. Among them was a
recovering alcoholic, six months sober, who slipped into the eleventh row. This
was his first Christmas since having lost his family. A family of four sat down
two rows in front of him. Seeing them together was crushing. He decided he
couldn’t handle it — he had to have a drink. As he moved from the sanctuary to
the narthex, he ran into Pastor Thomas Tewell. ‘Jim, where are you going?’ the
pastor asked. ‘Oh, I’m just going out for a Scotch,’ Jim replied. ‘Jim, you
can’t do that,’ the pastor responded. He knew that Jim was a recovering
alcoholic. ‘Is your sponsor available?’ Jim replied, ‘It’s Christmas Eve. My
sponsor is in Minnesota. There’s nobody who can help me. I just came tonight
for a word of hope, and I ended up sitting behind this family. If I had my life
together, I’d be here with my wife and kids too.’ Pastor Tewell took Jim into the
vestry to talk with a couple of other pastors. Then he slipped into the
auditorium, having no idea what to do. He whispered a prayer: ‘O God, could you
give me a word of hope for Jim?’ He welcomed everyone and made a few
announcements. Then he said, ‘I have one final announcement. If anyone here
tonight is a friend of Bill W — and if you are, you’ll know it — could you step
out for a moment and meet me in the vestry?’ Bill W., was a cofounder of
Alcoholics Anonymous. From all over the sanctuary, women, men, and college
students arose and made their way out. ‘And there while I was preaching in the
sanctuary about incarnation,’ said Pastor Tewell, ‘the Word was becoming flesh
in the vestry. Someone was experiencing hope.’” Jim experienced the friendship of
Jesus Christ through the people who had been touched by him and in whom he
lived.
OBSERVATION:
Sometimes we become the flesh
of the Word for someone else. Never lose sight of that great news of
astonishing reality. We, you and me, becoming the incarnation for another human
being. Sometimes people just need a Jesus with flesh on.
PRAYER:
Help me realize that the only
Jesus somebody might meet in this life is me.
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