The Light that Shines in Darkness

During the winter months in the northern hemisphere, when we are experiencing winter and long nights and short days, light becomes an important symbol synonomous with hope. I am keenly aware that many are sitting on pins and needles right now because we know that the incoming presidential administration is hell-bent (and I do mean hell) on revenge and retribution because there were those people who stood in the way of grift and greed. There are presidential advisors who harbor hatred toward foreigners, LGBTQ+ people, and anyone who is seen as "non-Christian" (although their version of Christianity is a far cry from the Jesus of the Gospels and Epistles). 

With these thoughts in mind...I wrote this sermon based on the opening of John's Gospel. See what you think.

Text: John 1:1-18

(n.b. we learned of former president and Georgia favorite son Jimmy Carter's death later in the afternoon. May the light he lit in the hearts of many remaining burning and not allow the darkness to overcome it.)

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It’s not every year that the Jewish Festival of Hanukkah lands on our holiday of Christmas.

In fact…the last time that happened was almost 20 years ago…in 2005.

It will happen again in 2035.

Hanukkah is one of those many moveable feasts…and is dependent on the solar and lunar cycles…and not our Gregorian calendar; so all of the Jewish holidays tend to fall within a date range.

Since my wife converted to Judaism…we have had double celebrations in our house…marking both Christmas and Hanukkah.

Chrismakkuh is a regular happening in our home.  

The main ritual of Hanukkah is the lighting of the menorah.

The holiday celebrates a bloody victory in the second century BCE over an oppressive Greek regime that had tried to force the Jews to adopt pagan beliefs.

When the Jews recaptured the Temple in Jerusalem, they found only one vial of oil to light the menorah…but miraculously…that vial kept the eight lights burning until they were able to get more to consecrate.

We light one candle…called the shamash or “helper” …which is then used to light the others.

We say a prayer as we hold the shamash:

“Blessed are you, Adonai, our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to kindle the Hanukkah light.”

And then we light the candles…and open the window blinds across from our fireplace mantle so that the light might shine out into the world.

With each night…with each candle…the light grows…piercing the darkness.

Similar to our Advent wreath…we can think of the light being passed…one candle to another…as we grow that light for the world.

Humans need light in order to see their way through the dark.

We aren’t like cats with their large corneas and pupils that allow them to see enough to hunt prey at night.

And so it makes sense that when our evangelist John talks about the inbreaking of God into the world…the birth of Jesus…he uses the language of light.

If Luke is the Rogers and Hammerstein of the Bible…John is the Poet Laureate.

Besides the apostle Paul…John is one of the biggest contributors to the writings of the New Testament.

He is the only apostle of the original twelve to have lived a long life and died of old age instead of martyrdom or in the case of Judas…suicide.

His Gospel was the last of the four in our canon…and the one that makes the strongest case for his community of followers in 100 CE that Jesus was God incarnate.

His opening prologue that we heard this morning is a lyrical remix of the First Creation story from the Book of Genesis.

Instead of “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth…” we learn that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”

And this Word came down and took on human flesh to live and dwell with us… as one of us.

This Word will grow from a tiny infant…totally dependent on human parents to raise him…filled with Holy Spirit from his first breath…and committed to a mission of Love that would challenge the bullies and tyrants of his day.

John tells us this Word is the Light of the World.

This light represents life.

In this case…the life is very specifically Jesus.

This is John’s way of telling the same birth story we heard on Christmas Eve from Luke.

It’s a reminder for those of us who gather to worship here…

That we, too, are incorporated into this light…and life.

Each time we profess our faith…every time we come to this altar to receive the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ… we are becoming one with this light and life.

We are re-ignited with that light of Christ…that light of God…within us…to go back out into the world…and be like that shamash on the menorah…passing our light to others.

We…. as people who put our faith and trust in God…have lives and light that are important to God no matter what we might think of ourselves or what others may have said or done to try to diminish our light.

As long as we stick with that source of the Great Light that has come into the world… we can withstand and shine through any darkness that tries to snuff it out.

That theme of “light” is an important one for John.

As I’ve said…he has a number of writings in the New Testament…including three relatively short letters written to his community.

The First Letter of John…which actually reads more like a sermon.. has a lot to say about this idea of “light.”

Very early on …John writes…

“God is Light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness…we lie and do not do what is true, but if we walk in the light as he himself is the light, we have fellowship with one another.”

So what does this mean for us…walking in the light?

John wants us to think about the way we treat each other.

Further into that same letter…John says we can’t claim to love God…who we have not seen…while we hate other people…the very people who we do see.  

We can’t say we’re following Jesus…walking in “the light”…while we add hardships to others…figuratively flipping off the light switch on them and leaving them hopelessly in the dark.

For us to “walk in the light” we have to be willing to be changed…at the heart level.

Because when we open our hearts to God…we are saying “yes” to allowing God to strike the match and light the wick…or put in the new lightbulb…pick your metaphor...and accept the values of Jesus.

And that assignment?

We work to free the captives…liberate people from their oppression…love people without coercion or demands.

When we decide to live into this way of Love it will change us…and our whole outlook.

And it will expand us in ways that are loving…and life-affirming…and in that process liberating for us and for others.

We aren’t going to be perfect at doing that all the time.

There’s a reason we say that Confession of Sin every week.

But when we find ourselves becoming uncaring or callous…we are invited to once again…add a little more oil to our inner lamp and shine on and meet and greet one another with love.

Because God loved us first…from the start.

Why else would the Word that was with God and is God have taken the risk of becoming a human baby…gone through the trouble of healing, teaching and preaching, and dying at the hands of an unjust system… if not for the enormous love for us?

And that way of love…that light…which came into the world is meant to be passed on…so that no darkness can take it away.

In the name of our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.