St Margaret's Church Prestwich

Rev Helen preached this sermon on Sunday 4 February 2024. Here it is for you again:

When I was at theological college you have to many different bible modules and in one particular Old Testament we had to choose out of three passages to write an assignment on (quite standard). The one I choose was the one on the book of Proverbs because I hadn’t really engaged with much before so I though why not and I really liked it, the first nine chapters of the book are an interesting introduction to the wisdom that was to follow. This passage we’ve heard today is interesting to me because it’s another creation story and a narrative into that. We already have at least two, one in Genesis 2 and of course the six days of creation which we all know off by heart don’t we?

Let’s just see how well we know them with a little quiz, don’t look so worried…

Day one – Light

Day two – Dome to separate sea and sky

Day three – Land and vegetation

Day four – Sun, moon and stars

Day Five – creatures in sea and sky

Day Six – other creatures and humans

So we have all these accounts of creation but this on in proverbs brings another angle to it, it’s different this one. It talks about wisdom being there since the beginning, being part of that creation with God, standing there besides God. I like this account of the creation of the world as it is less analytical and practical it’s more personal. You can feel the delight of God and the delight in the world and that personal touch that is interwoven into the whole thing, more intermate. I love those first chapters of proverbs, well worth reading if you haven’t looked at the book of proverbs before.

Then you look at today’s gospel and it takes all of this, the being who was there from the beginning a bit further and starts with that beautiful poetry, In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, the word was God, he was with God in the beginning. Wisdom wasn’t the only thing that was there with God in the beginning, the word was there but was more, it was part of God. The word did something else that was different to wisdom rather than stay with God, the word became flesh and made its dwelling among us. The word came to earth, was born as a baby boy, this is more than heavenly wisdom, this is God coming to earth and dwelling with humans. God came to earth as a man, born over 2,000 years ago as a baby boy.

Jesus taught about God, he taught how to live, how to behave, how to treat other people. He taught about the Kingdom of God but most important he brought hope, hope that things would be better, hope for a brighter future. How did humans react to this gift from God? That is foreshadowed in the gospel His own people did not accept him. We did more than not accept him, we mocked him, tortured him and killed him. The word became flesh and we killed him. This is the time in Jesus story when we are turning from the crib to the cross. He came to save the world and the world rejected and killed him. Of course the story doesn’t end there, this story has a ending of hope because Jesus final act was something spectacular. In the words of the 4^th doctor (Tom Baker) when he was just about to experience his own re birth ‘It’s the end but the moment has been prepared for’. Jesus died to save us he gave us hope, something the world really needed. I’m going to finish by reading a poem sadly I don’t know the author but I was given it by one of my colleagues who I worked with at the Diocese for a sermon years ago and I think it really illustrates todays gospel, it’s called the word:

The Word became skin and sinew, muscle and mass,

He became finger nails and eye lashes,

He became baby and child and adult,

He became tangible and real.

The Word became sadness and laughter, love and loss,

He became learner and teacher,

He became friend and enemy and master,

He became truth and hope.

The Word became words and actions, miracles and stories,

He became loved and feared,

He became wisdom and justice and light,

He became radical and dangerous.

The Word became bound and tied, abandoned and tried,

He became scapegoat and lamb,

He became wounded and mocked and beaten,

He became sacrifice and redemption.

The Word became breathless and buried, dark and alone,

He became mourned and missed,

He became cautionary tale and I told you so,

He became guarded and feared still.

The Word became breath again,

He became life anew,

He became wonder and awe,

He became the ultimate plot twist,

He became unchained, unstoppable, unbeatable,

He became all.

The Word became like us, so that we could become like him.