The legend of Santa Claus - this guy who lives up north with lots of helpers watching over everyone, keeping a list of who's good and who's bad - sounds kind of like what some people think of when they think of God. And it kind of works. He's not too overbearing or over-involved in our lives, just there when we have a list of things we need.  But how do you know if you're on the nice list or the naughty list? There's no real way to know. And that's what John is saying in John 1:16-18. No one's seen God, we're all just guessing. But if did tell us what God is like, we'd better be prepared to be wrong. Which means if we want to know God, we're going to need grace. 

In a normal year this time of year might give us a chance to reconnect with family around the table. This year is different, but we still long for a place like family where we know we'll belong and where our seat at the table is secure no matter what. John tells us that he's writing his account of the life of Jesus so that we might see that is "the Son of God." He uses this picture of family to tell us something about Jesus. But what does it actually mean that Jesus is "God's Son?" What we find when we understand who Jesus really is is that no matter what, through Jesus we are welcomed into God's family. 

You probably have some idea of what Christmas is all about - whether it's from Linus telling you in the Charlie Brown Christmas Movie or from driving past nativity scenes in the neighborhood with shepherds and angels and sheep. It's kind of cute. In John's story of the life of Jesus, he skips all of that and gets right to the heart of the most important question: who really is this kid in the manger? And what John tells us in John 1:1-3 is that he's more than just a kid - he's God himself. 

Chances are you've tried to change something about yourself before. Maybe you succeeded somewhat, maybe you failed, but either way it was probably difficult. That's the point Jesus is making in John 15 when he says "apart from me you can do nothing." Using a picture of vines and branches, Jesus says that it's only by being connected to him that we can do anything good. So what does it take to be connected to him?

Christianity has a reputation for being an exclusive religion - only a few people get to go to heaven. That's what Jesus seems to be saying in John 14. But what if Christianity isn't as exclusive as you might think? Whether you are religious or non-religious, you have some idea of what heaven is all about and chances are, it involves some people being in and some people being out. Jesus, on the other hand, says that no one gets in. Which means the way to heaven is the same for all of us. 

As much as we try to ignore it, we can't avoid suffering and death. And in the middle of suffering we're left wondering why it seems like God has abandoned us. But in John 11, we see Jesus offering us a different hope - his presence in the midst of our pain. He weeps with us, knowing our pain and heartache. But we also see his power over the grave - that we live because he takes our grave for us. This changes everything about how we face our immediate suffering and how we think about our future.

There are a lot of voices fighting for our attention, especially in the middle of an election. How do we know which voices we can trust? In John 10, Jesus uses the example of a shepherd and sheep to caution us about putting too much trust in two voices - the thief and the hired hand. The thief will hurt us and the hired hand will abandon us. But only a good shepherd sticks with his sheep. And that is who Jesus is for us. A shepherd who knows us, cares for us, and has proven his love for us by giving his life for us. And because of this we can trust him with our lives and our future, no matter what that future holds.

In scary movies darkness is always dangerous and light is always the hope. In John 8, Jesus calls himself "the light of the world" and in his teaching exposes our true need: not just to become better people, but to be set free. And when we are set free by his light, we are free to tell the truth and love the truth that he came to show us.

When life feels overwhelming we need hope to hang on to. In John 6, Jesus is surrounded by a crowd with needs. He meets their immediate needs but also invites them to experience the solution to their deepest need - to experience life through him. Through Jesus, we no longer have to fear death which frees us to face the challenges of life in the confidence of knowing that God is for us.

The Rolling Stones said it best: can't get no satisfaction. We're all looking to be truly satisfied in life. We keep going back to wells - places or people we think will bring us find happiness, contentment, or fulfillment. But they leave us wanting more. In John 4, Jesus meets a woman in just this place in life. And what he offers her is not another well, but a way to be truly satisfied by knowing Jesus.