Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square
General Shaw Clifton
Scripture: John 1:1-18
The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us (John 1:14).
A Solitary Word
Trafalgar Square, London, was heaving with people that December evening. It was rush hour time. Folk were coming and going in every direction through and around the Square. I was there to collect money while a group of Salvation Army musicians played Christmas carols. The Army has longstanding Christmas links to the Square, especially when the famous Christmas tree is lit up early in Advent. There, amid the gigantic bronze lions and beneath the shadow of Nelson’s Column standing 52 meters high, each December a huge fir tree, a Norwegian spruce, is erected. It is an annual gift to the people of the United Kingdom form the people of Norway as a token of gratitude for British support during the Second World War. Felled each November since 1947, a tree is shipped to England and lit up during a short ceremony attended by diplomatic and civic dignitaries. Often a Salvation Army band is invited to provide Christmas music. Then early each January the tree, with its 500 lights, is taken down.
Trafalgar Square during Advent is thus a good place to be. There is a spirit of goodwill and festivity. The December night of which I write was cold, but the Square
was thronged. Above the chatter of the pedestrians and the drone of passing vehicles the music of the carolers was clearly heard, resulting in a steady, seemingly ceaseless flow of donations into my box. Many who gave offered also a smile. It was a season of goodwill.
Then there was a moment I have never forgotten. The music played on. The passersby bustled about but for a brief interval nobody approached me. Then he appeared. Middle-aged, smart and businesslike in appearance, briefcase in hand. He drew near. A quiet smile appeared on his face. He had a plethora of silver coins at the ready. In went his gift. For a moment or two our eyes met and quietly he said: “Hallelujah!” Then he was gone. He had given more than money. He had gladdened my heart with a solitary word. He wanted me to know he shared our faith and understood why we were there proclaiming the coming of Christ. A simply “Hallelujah” sufficed.
The Word
If one human word was capable of warming my heart, then how much more the Word made flesh in the person of Jesus. The opening verses of John’s Gospel refer to Him as the Word, in Greek Logos. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14 RSV) is one of the greatest sayings in all of Scripture. In New Testament Greek logos means “word.” It can also mean “reason.” However, John uses it as a name or title for Jesus. He departs from the approaches found in the three synoptic Gospels where Mark focuses on the work of John the Baptist, while Matthew and Luke center on the virgin birth. John beings with Creation, or even pre-Creation, to take his readers immediately into the realms of eternity. Thus, his opening five verses speak of the eternal and divine Word, God’s agent in creating the world, the source of light and life for the human race which, although surrounded by darkness, constitutes a light that can never be quenched. What 
profound truths these are to occupy us for the season of Advent!
Greek culture used logos to denote an inward thought that is eventually expressed in human language, and this explains why J.B. Phillips in his translation of the fourth Gospel begins with: “At the beginning God expressed Himself.” John goes on to say (1:1 NIV) “and the Word was God.” This means that the deeds and the words of the child to whom Mary gave birth were the deeds and the words of God, and the same must be said of His later adult life.
At Christmas we celebrate that “the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us” (John 1:14). Here flesh means human nature – God took on human nature. He arrived on the human scene as it were, and He dwelt among us – literally “He took up His abode among us,” or even more literally, “He pitched His tent among us.”
John was using language and expressing concepts in a way that his educated Greek readers would understand readily. It is always a good idea to use the language of the people. Heaven knows this, and that is why the language of Advent and of Christmas is not, in the end, about words. It is about a baby boy. Who among us can fail to understand, and be moved by the arrival of such a child?
Canadian Edward Read, a fellow Salvationist now Promoted to Glory, puts it well in his Christmas poem:
As snow comes soft from a wintry sky,
Falls white to earth and whitely lies,
So shall God’s peace descend the height
To clothe our souls in garments white.
As sun sets red, the evening star
Steals silent up twilight’s stair.
So there for us, athwart the night,
His star sheds its lovely light.
As Christmas now comes caroling,
Once more we hear the angels sin
Of that great Gift, in lavish love,
To earth down from heaven above.
The snow lies white, the stars shine clear,
The carols ring, and He is near.
This holy night we seek His face,
And Christmas is aglow with grace.
Excerpt from Sacred Risk by General Shaw Clifton. Published by The Salvation Army International Headquarters, 2021. All rights reserved.