In the beginning was something new
Christmas I sermon delivered at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Louisville, KY, December 26, 2021 Text: John 1:1-18 , Isaiah 61:10 - 62:3 In the beginning. It isn’t by accident that those words are heard twice in scripture: once in Genesis, and once in the Gospel of John we just heard. John purposefully used those same words to indicate that the origin of Jesus, God incarnate, shared the moment that God created this universe, this world, and us. Genesis tells us that God brought Creation into existence, including Jesus, making God the center of all Creation. Every day of creation was finished with the proclamation that it was good. That goodness eventually became the Word, Jesus who lived among us, and helped us start a new relationship with God that was also declared good. So today we find ourselves starting something new again: a new church year, now four weeks old, and a new calendar year a week from now. In the middle of this newness is Christmas, a celebration of the beginning o