Come And See

“Come and See”

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the

light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that

through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives

light to every man was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which

was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right

to become children of God-- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came

from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, ’He who comes after me has surpassed me

because he was before me.’ " From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was

given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who

is at the Father’s side, has made him known. John 1:1-18

Very important words – defining the foundational elements of our theology and faith. These are words you could spend years

wrestling with and struggle through. They are foundational to our understanding of who we are. They define the very identity of

Christianity.

And what does it really mean to be a Christian? We wrestle with that term ‘Christian’ all the time. The word itself seems to

have lost some definition. It includes such religiously diverse collections of people ranging from the Mormon church to the

Catholic Church. It stretches to include people who practice their faith in the heritage of the Puritans as well as the stances and

advocations of the Metropolitan church. The word ‘Christian’ tells very little about who we are. People assume much and trust

little anyone who says they are a ‘serious’ Christian. Somehow the word has somehow taken on a slant of an angry political

orgnization that boycotts and pickets abortion clinics and major corporations. And Christians has really turned into some kind

of adjective… Christian radio, Christian clothing, Christian web page, Christian resources, Christian home, Christian music,

Christian restaurants… Christian pizza?

Even the church and church people are confused about who we are what we’re to be about. I remember hearing a speaker

who was talking about moving into a new church. He made appointments to meet with various members of his leadership. He

set an appointment with one of the people he didn’t know well. The gentleman walked in. The new pastor asked his guest to

share his story of faith.

This older leader began to share the different roles of leadership in which he had served. He related various committees and

programs which he headed. He described some wonderful events and services.

After about 20 minutes the new pastor interrupted him. “Excuse me Ted. This all sounds good… but you’ve been talking for 20

minutes and you’ve yet to even say the name of Jesus.”

How often are our lives and our faith centered around something we do – not around the person and deity we are called to

worship. After all, Christianity isn’t something you do, something you study… Church isn’t somewhere you go, or something

you build…

This is not a religion as the world knows religion. Christianity is about a relationship! A relationship between you and the

firstborn of creation!

Our problem is the human tendency toward reduction. We reduce what it means to be Christian to a pamphlet/map. We think

that when someone comes to faith, we’ll just hand them a manual of rules and rites to make them ‘one of the team.’ So we

spend hours, days, years, even lives defining the exact details of a map – a map of our own creation. We reduce God’s

principles and high ideals to simple to state and easy to read rules for “dummies.”

We assume that simple, easy answers which require little thinking or training must be more trustworthy than anything you have