What Pastor Jon Preached on Sunday, December 25, 2011

Nativity of Our Lord: Christmas Day
Isaiah 52:7-10 • Psalm 98 • Hebrews 1:1-4, (5-12) • John 1:1-14

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 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. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.

Some of you may know that I have become a runner. Many of you may not know that my preferred time to run is fairly early, 5:30 am or so, with a running group, which both gives good reason to get out of bed, and also provides for good company and encouragement. In a few weeks I will mark my first year of running this early in the morning.

Over the course of this year I have truly seen how different the light is that early in the morning. In the middle of summer, by 5:30am, the sun was up, and its rays were peeking over the tree tops as we got going. But now, in winter, it is dark, and it’s even still dark by the time I get back home. I’ve learned that in these winter months, this is all the more reason why it’s important to run with a group, because the rest of them seem to have something I don’t ever use...a light. Whether it's a head lamp, lit arm band, or brightly lit vest—they all have some way of being seen in the dark. Running around Oak Park and River Forest that early in the morning, believe it or not: there’s more than a few cars driving around. So in winter, without some kind of illumination, we would be in danger—we wouldn’t be seen until a car would come a few feet from us, which would be too late.

In the darkness, whether the darkness of running, or the darkness of navigating our way through our journey of life, it is a truth of our existance that we need light in order to see our way forwards. No matter whether our journey is smooth or full of obstacles, in order to not stumble, we all need lights that can help us spot danger, and enlighten the pathways that will lead us home. We especially need a light that can shine not just in the daytime, in our darkest hours--light that cannot be overcome by the dark.

The light that can illumine our way in life...the light that does shine its light on us as bright as the dawn of this morning’s sunrise...the light that comes to give us sight of God’s love for us...is nothing less than Jesus himself. John’s Gospel proclaims a profound connection between Jesus as our light, Jesus as the one who allows us to see God, Jesus as the one who makes our believing in God possible. In John’s Prologue, which is always the appointed reading for Christmas Day, Jesus, the Word, comes as God’s very life in human form, a life that gives “light to all people”, and a light that shines in our darkness and that darkness cannot not overcome. (1:4-5) Christ displays his light for us by showing us the character of God’s love for us.

Throughout John, the author of this Gospel shows Jesus exposing many who live in darkness and who believe they are bound to live without any light—people who do not see any way forwards, people denied access to the light of God’s acceptance. But time, and time again, those who trust that God is present in this Word made flesh called Jesus, they receive sight to see God. Light indeed has come to shine on them, and on the world. Nicodemus comes to Jesus questioning him under the darkness of night, but on the day of Jesus’ burial he steps out into the light of day to help keep watch over the burial the Son of God that had opened up God to him. A man born blind, a man whom everyone else had cast out of the Temple and into the darkness, steps out into God's light through the healing power of Jesus. Jesus goes to raise Lazarus from his dark tomb of death, to give him new life. Lazarus no longer has to stumble in the darkness of death, but can walk in plain sight alongside the one who came to give him life. Jesus comes to all of them, and to us, this Christmas and always, to give us the light of God’s saving love that shows God to us, and that illuminates our sight of the way forward.

But why did God have to send Jesus as our Light? Couldn’t God have just told us? Couldn’t God have guided, redeemed and brightened our lives without Jesus? Couldn’t God have given us that light through all the other ways God had spoken to us before Jesus, like making a new covenant, giving us an updated version of the law, appointing new judges and new kings, or calling new prophets?

God could have done those things. But Jesus comes to show us God’s light amidst our darkness because we wouldn’t love that light unless God wanted to win our trust...and the only way that we would freely be won over by God’s love, is through someone like us. Philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once described the Incarnation as being like a royal king who fell in love with a lowly serving girl. He couldn’t earn her love by a show of power, or she would be intimidated. He couldn’t shower his wealth on her, or by his powers declare that she was his equal. Then she would not love him for who he really is, but for what he could give her. So the king decided to give up his kingship and become a humble servant like her in order to win her genuine love. So too, in Jesus, “the Word became flesh and lived among us”, not to intimidate or coerce us into trusting God, but for us to see in flesh and blood just who God really is and to be won over by his love. (Lose, Making Sense of the Christian Faith, 120-121)

But there’s another reason that the light of God’s love comes to guide and redeem our paths in Jesus. After all, we can understand God better through a human, but how can we trust that this Light of the world will lead us to safety? A story about a farmer’s husband can help us picture this. This farmer never went to church, but his wife went regularly. One cold and blustery Christmas Eve, after his wife had once again failed to convince him to come to church, he was reading comfortably by the fire when he heard a sudden thudding against the windows of their house. He saw that sparrows were crashing into the windows, trying to get out of the cold harsh wind and who had been attracted by the light and heat inside. Not wanting to be bothered, he covered the windows, but that didn’t work. So he went out to open his barn doors wide so the birds could find sanctuary there. But they wouldn’t come in. He tried spreading a trail of cracker crumbs, but they wouldn’t follow. He tried to shoo them in, but that only frightened them more. He thought, “If only I could become a sparrow for a little while, I could lead them into the barn to safety.” It was in that moment that he finally realized what Christmas was all about--the story of God being born a human was both the way for us to be brought into the Light, for us to recognize God. Jesus coming, the farmer realized, was also the way God could lead us to the Light that is our help and our safety, which is God’s saving grace in Jesus. (Lose, 121)

Jesus coming as our Light doesn’t just give us faith to step out from the darkness into his light by ourselves. His light gives us faith to see God as gracious towards all people. His coming gives us light to see that on our path, we are not alone, but we have companions on they way of life that follows God's light. God showers that light down on all, creating a circle of light, a circle of faith, a circle of trust that encompasses our sight of the world as a recipient of this Light. Our faith in Christ’s unfailing light means that we can join in circles of trust with others. In the midst of those circles of trust that gather in Christ’s name—whether they are ones like this circle here, gathered as the church, or a Bible study, small group, family, neighbors or friends—the Light of Christ shines with an embrace that allows our darker, shadow sides we may not be so proud of to come out into Christ’s light and be acknowledged without shame but with mercy. Christ’s light creates circles of trust with others that help us remember where it is we come from, and what relationships are most important to us. In the midst of trusted circles with others created by the light of God’s incarnation, healing can take place, so that we continue on our journey in the world more connected to God’s love than to our dehabilitating wounds. The light of Christ doesn’t just create faith, it creates sight to see the circles of trust that surround us, and remind us that we are never alone.

So we rejoice together this day. God’s light has come. We can step out of our darkness and behold the wonder of God made flesh. We join the Gospel of John’s hymn, to praise Christ who comes to give us sight of a gracious God who is always at work among us, nourishing us with Light to save us from the darkness of our journeys. We join in singing our own hymns this day. Together we join as a circle of trust created by God's faith in us to embody our own gracious response with hymns to God for the self-giving love we’ve been given. We join as people of the Light who have been given sight of the way of our future, the way of salvation, that shines brightly in Christ. We praise God's Light with praises like this stanza that we sang in “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming,”:

“This flow’r,
whose fragrance tender fills the air,
dispels with glorious splendor
the darkness everywhere.
True man, and yet very God,
from sin and death he saves us,
and lightens every road.”

Rejoice, people of God! The Light that leads us home has dawned once again!

Amen.