“The Gift of Light”
Christmas Eve, 2004 -- HMPC
Isaiah 9: 2 – 7
I.
“Rejoice you just, it is the birthday of the
Justifier.
Rejoice you who are weak and sick;
it is the birthday of the Savior, the Healer.
Rejoice, captives: it is the birthday of the Redeemer.
Rejoice, slaves: it is the birthday of the One who makes you
lords.
Rejoice, free people; it is the
birthday of the one who makes you free.
Rejoice, all Christians; it is the
birthday of Christ.”[1]
I don’t know if I personally have a favorite Christmas quotation, but if I did, these words of Augustine would certainly qualify for the championship heat.
Similarly, I cannot name a favorite Christmas scripture, but there are a few that round the last lap with a chance to win the gold. Among them these words from Isaiah 9, immortalized by Handel in his masterpiece The Messiah:
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great
light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness -- on them light has shined. You have multiplied the nation, you have
increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as
people exult when dividing plunder. For
the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their
oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For all the boots of the
tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel
for the fire. For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority
rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His authority shall grow continually, and
there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will
establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time
onward and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
II.
Before Christmas is about anything
else, it is, I think about light. The
gospel of John understands this in its great preamble – though it neglects a
story of Jesus’ birth it does tell us this about his arrival and coming among
us (John 1: 2-5): “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.” Christmas
is the light of Angels, the light of the star, that light of revelation to Mary
and Joseph, the light of hope that comes with the good news of Jesus for all
peoples.
Somewhere
in time, I think this is why Christmas lights starting being hung on homes: to light the night, as a reminder to the hope
of Christ. I don’t think it is
overstepping my bounds to say that we have a few abusers of the Christmas light
imperative here in Tarboro – I think when ones nocturnal luminescence is so
great that one can see your house from the Moon that the focus on the life of
Christ and his birth in Bethlehem has somewhere gotten lost.
III.
Over
and over again the larger culture incorporates, inculcates, and corroborates
little bits of the Jesus story to fit its ends.
Overtime, Christmas which once meant thinking about why God had to come
to set the world right in Jesus Christ, has become something very, very
different. So much so that one wonders
how much of it now resembles its old self – like a restored painting or a
refurbished home: the original genius is
still there but it is difficult to know precisely where the original artists
brush fell.
And
so we read about babies born on Highway 264 during a blizzard and our hearts
are warmed. We hear legends of the Candy
Cane, about the little match-stick girl or the little drummer boy and about
goodness that breaks forth in the world somehow. We go to more parties, and we offer gracious
hugs and kisses. We listen more to
children and pay them more attention. We
send cards with warm wishes and beautiful prayers for blessings and greetings. We watch on the Today show about a man who is
giving away 20,000 bicycles to children this Christmas and we hear about the
Marines collecting toys for Millions of Children, and we know that all these
things have something to do with Christmas.
The
question that scripture begs us to ask, though, is slightly different. It is not whether these cultural practices
are good or bad, it is whether or not they are sufficient as purveyors of
grace, as voices of joy, as sources of hope.
Does their light shine bright enough to break the darkness of the shadow
of even death itself?
IV.
Two
years ago, in
Well,
that night, Mother Nature had her laugh with me. The snow, rain, sleet mixture began to fall
late in the afternoon. By
I
remember thinking, “At least we still have power,” and then only moments later
there was a loud pop, a louder crash, and a blue flash that blinded me for a
moment: and then darkness and total
quiet. There was no power. There was no light.
Things
quickly became absurd. I couldn’t find a
flashlight. I stubbed a toe. We thought about breakfast but could cook
nothing. We had to wait for the dawn to
dress. In other words, we were paralyzed
by the darkness and we remained that way for ten days. Thanks to the generosity of friends, we soon
had light and warmth as we sought shelter with them.
V.
Darkness
is paralyzing. It literally makes us
stop. There is no coincidence that we
begin to see light in the womb as infants – we will need light to survive and prosper. We are not creatures who are created
nocturnally. We must have light.
In
the world in which we live, light has become a precious commodity. Not because of its absence but because of the
presence of darkness. The darkness of
war. The darkness of famine. The darkness of disease. The darkness of terrorism. The darkness of poverty. The darkness of racial struggle. The very darkness of death itself. If you want to see what the darkness looks
like, see its face, I suggest the WRAL news – take your pick of the time of
day. Even at
Strangely
enough, the darkness also can come from perceived light – light that is good
light in some ways, but doesn’t have the wattage to keep real shadows at
bay. The News and Observer two weeks ago reprinted a piece from the Los
Angeles Times, written by Emily Green makes my point better than I can. She writes, “As a discreetly lapsed
Protestant, I should disapprove [of] the commercialization of Christmas. Tsk.
Whatever happened to slowly adding brandy to the fruitcake, Advent
Calendars, a church service, a meal and perhaps a carol or two? A miracle, that’s what. Advent calendars are no replacement for Sarah
Jessica Parker in a fuzzy Gap sweater.” She
continues, “Left to its original brief, Christmas would quietly come and go in
a worshipful way. Scarves, candles,
garnets, a bicycle horn, a bottle of hooch – that’s the spirit. A Target ad, that’s the hymn.”[2]
For
better or worse (she apparently is quite happy) it seems to me that she’s
walking in a darkness of sorts. It is a
darkness caused by complacency, greed, and excess and its one that you and I
can easily fall into.
VI.
Now,
I wish I could adopt her Gap-filled Christmas vibe – her joy of excess and consumerist
Target-ad world view. Such an adoption
might cause me to spend less time worrying about the state of the world and the
health of my soul. But, I cannot. James Howell, a Methodist minister in
Jesus
Christ is the light of the world. He is
the comfort in every darkness and his birth signals that the deep darknesses of
sin and pain, of famine and plague do not have a stranglehold on humankind. His birth is the proclamation of His very
light. The question that fronts is challenging: do we even realize that we need His light in
our lives? In other words, if the angels
came to you tonight on your way home would you drop everything – traditions,
gifts, commitments – like those shepherds in their darkness to run and see the
baby born? Would you walk for days like
the Magi from the East? Or, would God’s
gift to us in Him, this precious gift of light, go unused and unappreciated
like so many of our Christmas gifts do each and every year?
VII.
I
hope and pray not. Please don’t mistake
this message – embracing the light of Jesus does not mean that there will be no
more darkness in our lives. It does mean
that God is with us no matter how terrible it all might become and that our
faith in Jesus is like a lantern that never exhausts its fuel, keeping the
darkness somehow at bay; helping us to never become hopelessly lost.
Miroslav
Volf, a Balkan by birth and a teacher at
That
is as fine a word as any I know. And the
hope of Jesus, though shop-worn the claim might sometimes be, is the great light
of the world. May we all take this to
heart, and be filled with His Christmas light.
Joy to the world, the Lord is born, let Earth receive her King.
“Rejoice
you just, it is the birthday of the Justifier.
Rejoice you who are weak and sick;
it is the birthday of the Savior, the Healer.
Rejoice, captives: it is the birthday of the Redeemer.
Rejoice, slaves: it is the birthday of the One who makes you
lords.
Rejoice, free people; it is the
birthday of the one who makes you free.
Rejoice, all Christians; it is the
birthday of Christ.”[5]
Amen.
[1] As
quoted from scholar John Witvilet, on Christianitytoday.com,
[2] Emily
Green. “Can the Carols…Give Me Sarah
Jessica Parker,” LA Times,
[3] James Howell. “What I Want for Christmas”
[4] Miroslav
Volf. “Not Optimistic.” The
Christian Century,
[5] As
quoted from scholar John Witvilet, on Christianitytoday.com,