December 28, 2025: First Sunday after Christmas Day
John 1: 1-18
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.'”) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.
I have often taken comfort that in the Incarnation of Jesus, God came to the world in human form and knows what it’s like to be human. God’s nearness to us at all times is immensely reassuring to me and engenders a sense of hope for all of us. As I have mentioned before in previous Scripture reflections, I often pray that “God is as close to you as the air you breathe” with my hospital patients. Sometimes when I lead prayer with a group, I remind us that “God is with us, within us and all arounds us” as a tool to center ourselves and remember God’s nearness and availability to us at all times.
Christmas is a time to celebrate that in the Incarnation of Jesus, “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness [has] not overcome it” (John 1: 5). The universal longing we have for something bigger than ourselves, for communion with the divine, is realized in the person of Jesus. The challenge for many of us is that in the busyness of life, we tend to forget God’s nearness. Many of us spend more time and energy focusing on our stressors rather than the knowledge that God has vanquished all darkness by the Incarnation of Jesus.
So the next time we are tempted to worry, or to fret about some seemingly unsolvable problem, we can pray for the grace to trust that God is intimately involved in our everyday experiences. Whatever darkness that threatens our wellbeing or the wellbeing of those we love has already been vanquished in the person of Jesus. We just have to call upon Him who loves us beyond measure; a love that is evidenced by God’s willingness to embrace all that it means to be human in the person of Jesus.
Thank u Sally for ur inspiring thoughts!
Needed this message for sure! Thanks Sally!
You’re welcome, Mary Ann! Thanks for reading it! Merry Christmas!
You’re welcome, Betty! Merry Christmas!