Light Shining in Darkness

Between this morning’s Christmas Eve service where we sang a lovely anthem entitled “Bethlehem of Noblest Cities” (ending with the words “thou alone the Lord from heaven didst for us incarnate bear”) and this evening’s 10 PM Christmas candle lighting service where we’ll sing a half dozen numbers, including Mendelsohn’s magnificent “There Shall A Star From Jacob Come Forth,” I wanted to get a Christmas message out to my readers that’s been on my heart this week. I love how the Spirit ties together broader themes, as there were at least two passages from our morning worship directly on this theme.

The first was on the very front of our bulletin:

Westminster follows a three-step progression at the beginning of each worship service, beginning with corporate confession of sin, followed by assurance of God’s grace, and concluding with a confession of faith, usually in the words of the ancient Apostle’s Creed or Nicene Creed. The second confirmatory passage was in the assurance of God’s grace portion of the service:

Now that could have been any given passage read on any given Sunday morning. But, Isaiah 9:2 states:

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone (ESV).

I don’t need to tell you how dark our world is. The darkness extends from global chaos to familial disruption. A demented President occupies 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. A 3-day junior doctor’s strike in the UK cripples the British healthcare system and reveals the abysmal failure of that country’s 75-year-old National Health Service. The Ukraine-Russia conflict wages on, while billions of US dollars sent to Ukraine line US politician’s pockets. It’s apparently become politically correct to be antisemitic in the Israel-Hamas conflict, as revealed by three major university presidents (only one “fell from grace”). The Colorado Supreme Court has removed Trump from the 2024 ballot on the basis of the 14th Amendment (which specifically does not apply to the President) and an insurrection charge which has never been proven, and now it appears California and likely other states will follow suit. The US southern border remains in chaos with no guaranteed protection for this country’s own citizens. Almost weekly now we hear announcements in prayer groups that “so-and-so” died suddenly. The elephant in the room—did they have the Covid jab—is rarely asked. In the meantime, Dr. Palmer and others in this document show that the Covid jabs were designed to kill. Meanwhile, loved ones attempt suicide and elders die.

For some, it’s a blue Christmas instead of a green and red one.

LuAnne reminded me on the way to church this morning of the verses which follow the very familiar John 3:16:

¹⁹ And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. ²⁰ For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. ²¹ But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God (ESV).

This passage reminds us that outside of Christian conversion, we’re all like cockroaches that go scampering for the dark in the presence of light. And Romans 7 reminds us that even for those of us who are “in Christ,” we still struggle with the sin nature this side of Jordan.

So, before we all go getting hoity toity about our own perceived (self-) righteousness, we do well to remember that we all struggle with darkness.

But, over 2,000 years ago, there were some humble, hillside shepherds “out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night” (Luke 2:8, ESV). Not in the day, but at night. In the darkness. In the shadows. Watching sheep. Shepherds. Unreliable sources who were forbidden to give testimony in court. Yet it was to these scoundrels on the back roads of civility that the “multitude of the heavenly host” (Luke 2:13) first announced His arrival.

Now perhaps the shepherds didn’t see a star. Possibly it was only the Magi two years later who actually saw a star over the house (Matthew 2). But the point of the story still remains, as so beautifully expressed in the Gospel of John:

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (1:5, ESV).

Darkness cannot exist in the presence of light. As His image-bearers, we are called to bring His light into the darkest corners of our world. Christ became man in the incarnation so that we could be presented faultless before His presence with exceeding joy in our redemption (Jude 1:24) and ultimate glorification.

He came into the darkness so that we could see the light.

And that, my friends, is the beauty of Christmas! May that reality undergird all of your festivities this season.

View from the Yeager kitchen, evening of December 23, 2023.

Merry Christmas!