January 3, 2021 – John 1:1-18
John 1:1-18
Beavers and Squirrels
Second Sunday of Christmas – January 3, 2021
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
Some animals find their homes – and other animals make them.
Squirrels of my acquaintance seem to like to make their homes in tree hollows they find –
when, that is, they are not finding their homes inside people’s roofs.
On the other hand, there are, for example, those great home builders, the beavers.
I do love to walk along Omand’s Creek, which is adjacent to Hillsboro House where I live.
Recently I noticed some beaver activity I hadn’t noticed before:
several trees had been newly hewn down by our industrious friends!
I became obsessed with finding the nearby lodge, which was not easy to see from the trail.
So on my birthday on December 20th,
my son Theo and I went walking up the frozen creek bed until finally we found this:
You can see an entrance to the lodge right in the middle of the picture.
Some beavers have moved into the neighbourhood and made a home!
In the beginning. . . writes John in the very first words of his Gospel.
Which is meant to echo the very first words of the Bible:
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)
Many commentators note that John starts his Gospel this way to signal to us that
when Jesus comes to live among us –
or “moves into the neighbourhood” in Eugene Peterson’s translation –
he is re-creating the world, as if it is all starting over with him.
Well, sort of. Maybe.
In Genesis, the picture of the world we get is more of a squirrel-y world.
God gets everything ready for us and the animals to move into the world.
God sets the world up like a big tree hollow for us to come and find a home in.
God makes sea and sky and dry land.
God creates plants for food, the sun to shine by day and the moon to shine by night.
And then, when the space is safe and ready for moving into,
God creates animals and human beings to come and find a home here.
Like squirrels who chance upon the tree hollow of their dreams.
The world is originally created by God to be a safe space for all living things.
But, as time goes on in the story, the world becomes a very unsafe space for most living things.
The poor, the sick, the different – not to mention women and children and strangers –
are often not very safe at all.
Things become so bad that God decides a little restoration is in order.
Except this time God decides to do things a little differently.
Instead of creating a whole new world with squirrels to inhabit it,
God sends us a beaver. . .
Only, it turns out the beaver was present the whole time, helping to make the home
we squirrels would all eventually move into:
He was in the beginning with God, and without him not one thing came into being. . .
So now the beaver comes again to restore what has been broken.
To create safe space again.
To make a home for us.
To home with us.
And to home in us.
The beaver moves into the neighbourhood forever so that we can find a home in him.
This is the light Jesus brings when he is born among us:
the creation of safe spaces in the midst of unsafe ones –
food for the hungry, healing for the sick, love for the loveless.
The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.
The darkness is still there – this year of all years we have been reminded of this.
The struggle and difficulty and anxiety have been all too real.
Health care workers, teachers, hospitality industry employees,
and essential workers of all kinds know these things all too well.
The 1.7 million people who have died from COVID-19 and
the countless millions who grieved them know these things all too well.
And just ask anyone who belongs to a group that suffers racism how safe they have felt this year.
Ask anyone whose job was lost or is at risk.
The darkness is still quite obviously there.
But the light of Christ shines on.
No, the light has not vanquished the darkness once and for all.
That day will come, but it is not here yet.
Rather, the light that shines on lights our way forward through this particular darkness.
Creating safe spaces of love in the midst of the dark ones.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil.
For you, Emmanuel, are with us.
You, Emmanuel, are God with us.
You, Emmanuel, prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You make a home for us in the midst of winter.
The light has shone at Sargent and Victor all this past year.
We have not missed a single week of hosting food bank.
We have provided of God’s continuing care with our Christmas Hamper Ministry.
We have shared God’s word prodigally and enthusiastically in new ways.
And above all, we have connected with one another in love.
We have continued to find a home in one another, and in doing so have found a home in God.
Finding safe space in the midst of unsafe space.
Jesus has moved into our neighbourhood at Sargent and Victor, and made a home for us all.
Amen.
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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