NOTES: 1] As Home Groups are unlikely to be meeting at this time of year, you may like to use this privately, devotionally, or for completeness. 2] Try to read this in a version that prints it as poetry. (vv. 6-8 & 15 are insertions that interrupt the flow of the poetry. 3] Some scholars think v.13 should read 'was born' & others 'were born'; the former referring to Jesus' birth, the latter to the (re)birth of 'all who received him'.

WARMING UP: When it comes to Christmas dinner, are there any essentials, must haves, at your place?

TREASURES OLD & NEW: Identify God in anything that's happened this week?

ENTERING INTO THE STORY:

1-3      What are we to make of this 'word' business? Does it speak to today's readers / hearers - us? Given that a word is a prime method of communicating, does JN's use of 'word' here help communicate the Gospel? Is his poetic way of expressing Jesus' place in the creation as valid as, say, a scientist's explanation of what happened 'in the beginning'?

4-9      What does it mean that life & light are central to God's creation? Is that poetry too, or is there something more factual, historical here? Do we bring enough of JN's kind of poetic imagination to bear on how we see Jesus today, or are we too bound up in theological 'head language' to explore JN's way of expressing truth? Is poetry less true than history? More true? Is there anything we'd like to see more of God's light thrown on today?
           How effective are we at witnessing to Jesus as the true light that enlightens everyone? Everyone? Isn't 'enlightenment' more for the Buddhists? How do we know true light when we see it or experience it? What makes us 'light up'?

10-13 Does the 'pre-existence' of Jesus as the Christ make much sense to us? Or is this a matter of faith rather than under- standing? Does the world in general, or our bit of the world, know God any better now than when JN was writing late in the 1st C. A.D.? Does being one of Jesus' 'own' today have more to do with religion, denomination, culture, geography, or what else? In our experience, what is it that lies at the heart of accepting Jesus, as distinct from giving some kind of intellectual assent to him? Can we say what it means for us to be a 'child of God' in other than 'in-house', 'churchy' language? Does our being born of blood / the will of the flesh / the will of a human being leave us behind the eight-ball in the things of God?

14      In what sense are we conscious of Jesus among us as God's 'Word'? Hasn't he rather tended to become 'word-iness' at the hands of preachers & others? In what way(s) have we ever: a) seen Jesus' glory? b) experienced his grace? c) under- stood him as truth?