“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).”“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” What does it mean that He “dwelt among us?” This is our focus this Christmas morning and it is a wondrous meditation indeed. Come and rejoice in the Word who entered your life to save you and receive His precious Word and Sacrament.

Also, you know the song, “On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree…” This is the first day of Christmas and your true love is God and the first gift on this first day is THE gift…hidden in the tree…hidden in a stable…was Jesus…given to you…again, come, let us celebrate this gift, THE gift.

Here is an excerpt from today’s sermon:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Merry Christmas! If you’ve ever been camping, have you ever noticed how close you’ve gotta be with the people you’re camping with? All vanity is thrown to the wind! You get up in the morning and the friends you’re with will see you at your absolute worst! Most of the time, you don’t even have a chance to look into a mirror before you step out of the tent and your friends see your hair in total disarray and who knows what the rest of your face looks like! You eat, sleep, work, play and do everything else in close proximity…so much for pride and dignity!

When you go camping, when you go tenting, you start to really and truly relate to the people you’re with. You realize that all people get cold, all people get embarrassed, all people laugh, all people get worried (especially if you’ve realized you’ve forgotten toilet paper), all people get excited, all people look kinda funny when they get out of their tent first thing in the morning and all people share a lot more in common than we realize. But it is a very good way to bond and to grow closer and again, to relate, to be like a family and to be close. Tenting really makes you grow close and see all that you have in common! Tenting makes you join one another, sharing each other’s space and sharing each other’s lives.

In John 1:14, the original word that the ESV translates as “dwelt” may also be properly translated as “tented”. Thus, the verse could very easily read like this: “And the Word became flesh and tented among us, and we have seen his glory…”. The Word – Jesus Christ – “tented” among us. It takes us back to the Old Testament when the people of Israel were so close to the Lord, because He literally traveled with them through the desert in the elaborate and beautiful tabernacle that was in truth a great tent! God was camping with the Israelites. The cloud of His presence was constantly over the tabernacle and on some occasions, the Lord Himself met the high priest in the Holy of Holies within that great tent. God joined His people in a wonderfully intimate way.

In Your Service & To Christ’s Glory,

Pastor Espinosa