<html><body><div>Here's the second part for this Sunday, after proofing, etc.</div><div><br></div><div>Bob</div><div><br></div><div><font size="2"><font face="Arial"> Notice that the writer doesn’t take the time to say how this happened. No stories here about Mary and God’s messenger having a chat about the birds and the bees. No stories here about an arduous journey to the birth or another about enforced departure to become aliens in another land. The Gospel writer recognises all the mystery that’s involved in God’s action, and isn’t troubled by it. What’s been written, then, stand for all time. No matter how developed human become; no matter what scientific advances occur; no matter how much farther and deeper into the universe we can scan; there will <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>ALWAYS</u></b> be mystery which we are invited to accept in faith. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal"><u>THAT’S</u></b> why the author was giving the first and second century followers of Jesus encouragement and reinforcement, just as we’re being given encouragement and reinforcement. You and I mustn’t ever lose sight of the unbelievably loving <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“<span style="margin: 0px; color: black;">Creator of the stars of night,” <sup>3</sup> who brought such a powerful, searching Light that so enlightens the world that, try as hard as we might, we simply cannot extinguish it totally.</span></font></font><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The opening verses, then, not only tell us that Jesus is God, and describe God in some way, but they offer the underlying theme of warning that the person who came among us was responsible for creation and that everything which Jesus is credited with saying and doing stands as the unwavering benchmark against which the behavior and speech of us all will be measured.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Is this another surprise, one that’s now unribboned, unwrapped and revealed? Jesus was an incredibly loving and compassionate human being, not to forget His powerful healing activity. But Jesus is also completely Divine. Jesus <b><u>IS</u></b> God, therefore, what He said, what He showed about life by example, is not to be brushed off. And, to go back to the insight of John O’Donohue, </span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>no life is to be lived alone or unreachable. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>EVERYONE</u></b> is our responsibility, precisely because everyone is God’s responsibility.<span style="margin: 0px; color: black;"> <br></span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The opening to this Gospel goes on from the acknowledgement of Jesus’ Divinity. The writer placed God directly into history by referring to this “man sent from God, whose name was John”. John, now known as the Baptiser, was described as having been given the responsibility of drawing people to see and know who Jesus is. The “Creator of the stars of night”, who brought the “people’s everlasting light,” came first to bring us encouragement and hope, freedom and salvation. But, secondly, the Star-Creator focused in directly on the needs of everyone, especially those who were made lonely, who were made unreachable. The Star-Creator points not only to reveal and make known God, but, at the same time, the incredible Star-Creator points to those around us, asking us, “How are your neigbours? What is there life like? Where do they live? How do they feel?”</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Brother Curtis of the Society of St. John the Evangelist, a group of monks living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who focus especially on what the writer of the Fourth Gospel teaches about Jesus; Brother Curtis wrote, “</span><span style='margin: 0px; color: rgb(32, 32, 32); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>As we (continue to) gather to remember and adore Jesus, the Messiah, so many things remain unchanged since last Christmas, and the Christmas before, and for that matter, 2,000 years ago. Many of the problems and challenges of our world are tragic, enduring problems, and in some ways worse than ever before. The only thing that is new, or that has the potential to be new in our meeting up again with Jesus on this Christmas celebration is the response of our own hearts: the gift of a new heart.” <sup>4</sup></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: rgb(32, 32, 32); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'> <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It’s never too late to think about surprises. It’s never too late to remember that the Surpriser-in-Chief is God, in Jesus, who is Love Present, for us and for all, whose hands reach from the place of His birth, to the Table set out in front of us right now, to the Joyful Feast prepared for us from and for all eternity.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: rgb(32, 32, 32); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>No one is, nor will ever be, alone. No one is, or ever will be, unreachable. Jesus has seen to that, and allowed us to see our role in continuing in the faith.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: rgb(32, 32, 32); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>May the Light of Christ live within us for ever.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'> </span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>NOTES:</span></b></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'> </span></b></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>[1]</span></span></span></span></span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><font size="2"> <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">“To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings”</i> by John O’Donohue. Doubleday, New York, N.Y. © 2008. Page xiii.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><font size="2"> </font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>2</span></span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>John 20:30-31 “continue to believe” occurs in some ancient manuscripts. See Adele Reinhartz in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">“The Jewish Annotated New Testament”,</i> edited by Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler. Oxford University Press, New York, N.Y. © 2011. Page 154.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'> </span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>3</span></span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">“Conditor alma siderum” </i><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Unknown 7<sup>th</sup> or 9<sup>th</sup> century author. Poem translated by John Mason Neale <span style="background: white; margin: 0px; color: black;">(1818-1866)</span> See <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Hymnal 1982</i>, No. 60, et al.</span><font face="Calibri"> </font></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'> </span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>4</span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:
normal"><span style='margin: 0px; color: rgb(32, 32, 32); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“Meet Jesus Again – Brother, Give us a Word”</span></i><span style='margin: 0px; color: rgb(32, 32, 32); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'> by Br. Curtis Almquist, S.S.J.E.. 23<sup>rd</sup> December, 2017</span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'></span></p></div></body></html>