NOTES:
1] As few Home Groups are likely to be operating at this time of the year, this is for any interested in using it privately, (devotionally?), & for completeness. 2] Read GEN 1, & then try to read the JN passage in a translation that prints it as poetry. Read it without 6-8, which, like v.15, interrupt the flow. 3] Anciently there was disagreement over whether v.13 should read 'was' or 'were' born. The singular would refer to Jesus' birth, the plural to the (re)birth of 'all who receive him'.

WARMING UP: When it comes to 'Christmas Dinner', are you a traditionalist, or more adventurous?

TREASURES OLD & NEW: Afterthoughts from, follow-up to last week's Group, or since?

EXPLORING GOSPEL:

1-3         What do we make of this 'Word' business? Does it speak to today's generations? (Does it speak to yours?) Given that a word is a prime method of communication, does what JN says here help the communication of the Gospel? How can we unpack 'Word' in a way that speaks to people today? Is JN's poetic way of expressing Jesus' place in the Creation any less valid than, say, a scientist's explanation of how things began?

4-9         How meaningful to us is JN's insistence on life & light as central to God's plan for creation? Is that just poetry, too, or is there something more practical, 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 more bound up in (& by) various theological ways of expressing truth? Is poetry less true than history? What would we like to see more of God's light thrown on today? What (who?) would we like to see brought to life?
              How effective are we at witnessing / testifying to Jesus as 'the true light that enlightens everyone'? Do we really believe that Jesus enlightens everyone? Isn't 'enlightenment' just for, say, Buddhists? How do we know the 'true light' when we see it? What is there about it that makes God / Jesus / us light up?

10-13    How are we to make sense of the world 'coming into being' through the Word? Does the pre-existence of Christ make any sense to us - or is this purely a matter of faith, not understanding? Does the world in general / our bit of the world know Jesus any better than when JN was writing? Does being Jesus' 'own' today have anything to with race, or geography? What does it have to do with?  In your experience, what lies at the heart of accepting Jesus (as distinct from giving some kind of inteellectual assent to him). Can we express what it means for us to be a 'child of God' other than in in- house language? Haven't we all been born of blood / the will of the flesh / the human will, as well as, more 'poetically', the will of God?

14        Is there any sense in which we are truly conscious of Jesus among us as God's 'Word'? Hasn't he tended to become 'word-iness' at the hands of preachers, teachers, & other enthusiasts? How does that sit with what JN wants us to understand?
In what ways can we honestly say we've seen Jesus' Glory? Experienced his Grace? Understood him as Truth?