We gather tonight...On a tiny speck of dust called earth.
If the size of the known universe was ratioed down to be the size of Chicago, and you placed a small orb ratioed down to the size of earth on top of the head of this pin, we would not even be able to see it!
This vast universe would be all black…
Except.. there are tiny specks of light called stars.
And one of those specks shone brightly over Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago.
Something we can scarcely picture about the world of the Bible is how dark it was at night. It was darker than any night most of us have ever experienced, even in the Boundary Waters or the mountains of Utah. Dark dark dark. Totally dark except for some speks of fire on the earth… as a late dinner is being prepared… or as a fire warms a home with no insulation on cold desert night.
So it’s strange, isn’t it, how God gives hope in such tiny packages.
What is one candle in a sanctuary full of darkness?
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness did not overcome it.
What is one little baby in a world full of sin, injustice, and dysfunction?
Christ’s life shines in the darkness,
And the darkness does not overcome it.
We are not meant to take this metaphor too far.
Black is beautiful.
And there is a sacred nature to darkness that helps us get in touch with peace and rest.
To me, this metaphor is more about scale.
It only takes a tiny light to change everything.
There are times when things seem and feel so dark. Overwhelmingly dark. Darkness frightens us because of what it may be hiding. Dread. Guilt. Anxiety. Prejudice. Loneliness. Death.. Darkness can feel invincible.
So it was on that dark, dark night in Judea so long ago. Dark the town, dark the stable, dark the fields where the shepherds lay with their flocks. Dark the power of the Emperor, dark the imagination of the king, dark the hope of the people, dark the likely fate of another child born in squalor, under occupation.
Yet then there was light, the smallest light. Not literally, of course. A baby person. The Word made flesh.
Except there are some times, when the light, for brief moments, is NOT SMALL.
Can you imagine what it is like, in such a dark world, on such a dark night, to be a shepherd.
The lowest, most despised members of society.
In that region there are shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they are terrified.
Terrified?? Yeah!
More terrified by the light than they are by the darkness.
They are used to the darkness.
The light is disruptive.
But it is also redemptive.
They go to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place.
And immediately, Christmas ends up a thing that is taking place in them, through them,
They make known what has been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds had told them.
In other words, they became part of the movement of Christmas, to follow the light that scatters the darkness.
The wise men will carry it.
The holy men and women of Jerusalem will carry it.
The apostles and disciples will carry it.
The saints and martyrs will carry it.
You and I will carry it.
That’s where we come in.
In the searing inspiring words of George Bernard Shaw:
“We are not feverish, selfish little clods of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it what I can. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”
The light of Christ shines in the darkness,
and the darkness does not overcome it.