“In the beginning,” the Gospel of John tells us, “was the Word.” He furthers this with this: “The Word was with God and the Word was God” (John 1:1). The first Christmas word we will look at in our Advent 2007 series is Word.

Christmas is about God’s self-expression, God’s Word, in the Person of Jesus Christ. The Christmas message, if it is faithful to John 1:1-14, is the message about Jesus Christ. What God wants to say to us has been said in Jesus Christ.

First, as with Creation so now with the New Creation: it is the act of God. John establishes Advent, Christmas, and the Incarnation as the Act of God to Create.

Second, the Word is the Creator or, perhaps more accurately, God created originally through the Word.

Third, God originally created The Adam; now God’s work begins with the One who becomes Incarnate, taking on flesh and blood (1:14).

Fourth, for John there are almost certainly allusions to Wisdom and Torah when he uses the word “Word.” It is entirely reasonable to think, also, that some would hear the Logos of the Greek world — that by which all things cohere.

Fifth, this Word is a Person. The ultimate and final act of “wording” is “personing” because the “Word” is the communicative act of God. Our words gain meaning from this Word; our words represent and extend who we are to another. Here God’s Word is both “word” and “person.”