I think that Selwyn picked an excellent verse to be the centrepiece of his Christmas meditation.
John 1:14: “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
As, he says, the original Greek for these words of this verse, gives us the imagery of ‘of God pitching His tent in our midst’.
Those of us who like camping – know of the community spirit which quickly develops among a group of people who pitch their tents at a camping ground. Around a campfire, the group seek and share their common experiences – there is an emphasis on community and a putting aside the pressures of everyday living. Imagine such a camping ground, where God Himself pitches His tent and comes over to the fire and sits down with us – to share our experiences, and our hopes and dreams. Well, Jesus did exactly that – He, who was everything – left all what He had, behind – to be born a baby – with nothing to share with us, but love!
As Selwyn says: “The revelation of God in Christ was not a momentary rift in the clouds, a fleeting vision of what God is like. Jesus didn’t sit on a cloud and pass on commands … No. He ‘made His dwelling among us’ – amid our poverty, amid our temptations, amid our problems and choices, amid our hopes and disappointments.”
The time will come when we will stand before God and give an account of our lives – we will never be able to say: ‘You, don’t know what it was like, how hard it was – the disappointments and heartaches.’ Because, He can say – ‘I pitched my tent in your midst and allowed Myself to suffer, as you have suffered – I know what it is – to be truly human.’
No fleeting vision
I think that Selwyn picked an excellent verse to be the centrepiece of his Christmas meditation.
John 1:14: “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
As, he says, the original Greek for these words of this verse, gives us the imagery of ‘of God pitching His tent in our midst’.
Those of us who like camping – know of the community spirit which quickly develops among a group of people who pitch their tents at a camping ground. Around a campfire, the group seek and share their common experiences – there is an emphasis on community and a putting aside the pressures of everyday living. Imagine such a camping ground, where God Himself pitches His tent and comes over to the fire and sits down with us – to share our experiences, and our hopes and dreams. Well, Jesus did exactly that – He, who was everything – left all what He had, behind – to be born a baby – with nothing to share with us, but love!
As Selwyn says: “The revelation of God in Christ was not a momentary rift in the clouds, a fleeting vision of what God is like. Jesus didn’t sit on a cloud and pass on commands … No. He ‘made His dwelling among us’ – amid our poverty, amid our temptations, amid our problems and choices, amid our hopes and disappointments.”
The time will come when we will stand before God and give an account of our lives – we will never be able to say: ‘You, don’t know what it was like, how hard it was – the disappointments and heartaches.’ Because, He can say – ‘I pitched my tent in your midst and allowed Myself to suffer, as you have suffered – I know what it is – to be truly human.’