There seems to be an immutable law concerning books written as a follow-up to another: they don’t sell quite as well as the first. It was true with Prayers for All Seasons 2, even more so with Daily Prayer 2, and also of No Ordinary Man 2 (which, to date, has sold nearly 5,500 copies compared to nearly 8,000 for book one), despite all of them being written specifically in response to demand from readers. Why that happens, I’m not sure, but it means of course that, even today, a lot of people who enjoyed No Ordinary Man 1 have not seen or used the material in the sequel. This week’s promotional discount may help to rectify that, for Kevin Mayhew Ltd this week, until 1 November, are offering 10 per cent off No Ordinary Man 2. Normally retailing at £24.99, this means a saving of £2.50 using the code ORDINARY210 when ordering the book from the Kevin Mayhew website. Just type the code into the relevant box at the online checkout between the dates given.
Here, then, is the first of seven sessions, spanning Advent to Easter, that I’ll be posting this week from the book:
‘WHERE DID IT ALL START?’
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.
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 1:1-5, 10-14
The meditation of John the Apostle
‘Where did it all start?’ they ask me.
‘Tell us the story again.’
And I know just what they want to hear –
about the inn and the stable,
the baby lying in a manger,
shepherds out in the fields by night,
and wise men travelling from afar.
I know why they ask, of course I do,
for which of us hasn’t thrilled to those marvellous events,
that astonishing day when the Word became flesh,
dwelling here on earth amongst us?
Yet wonderful though that all is, it’s not where it started,
and if we stop there, then we see only a fraction of the picture,
the merest glimpse of everything God has done for us in Christ.
We have got to go right back to see more –
before Bethlehem,
before the prophets
before the Law,
before time itself, would you believe? –
for that’s where it started:
literally ‘in the beginning’.
Yes, even there the saving purpose of God was at work,
his creating, redeeming Word
bringing light and love into the world,
shaping not just the heavens and the earth
but the lives of all,
every man, woman and child.
That’s the mind-boggling wonder of it –
the fact not just that God made us,
but that through Christ he was determined from the outset
to share our lives,
to take on our flesh,
to identify himself totally with the joys and sorrows,
the beauty and the ugliness of humankind.
It defies belief, doesn’t it?
Yet it’s true –
God wanting us to know him not as his creatures
but as his children,
not as puppets forced to dance to his tune
but as people responding freely to his love,
and to achieve that he patiently and painstakingly prepared the way,
revealing year after year a little more of his purpose,
a glimpse more of his kingdom,
until at last,
in the fullness of time,
the Word became flesh and lived among us,
full of grace and truth.
It wasn’t an afterthought, the incarnation,
a last-ditch attempt to make the best of a bad job –
it was planned from the dawn of time.
So next time you hear the story of the stable and the manger,
of the shepherds gazing in wonder
and the magi kneeling in homage,
stop for a moment
and reflect on everything which made it all possible,
the eternal purpose which so carefully prepared the way of Christ,
and then ask yourself this:
are you prepared to respond to his coming?
Prayer
Gracious God,
despite our repeated disobedience
your love continues undiminished,
reaching out to us every moment of every day.
Despite the rejection of the world
still you go on seeking to draw it to yourself,
until every broken relationship with you is mended.
So it is now and so it has always been,
from the beginning of time your nature always to have mercy.
Help us to appreciate the enormity of your faithfulness,
and to use this season of Advent
to open our hearts more fully to your grace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.