“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all.” These words from the book of Isaiah and from Paul's letter to Titus, these words tell us why we are here tonight. We are here to listen again to an old familiar story, the story of baby Jesus and his parents, and how angels and shepherds announced the significance of his birth over 2000 years ago. But it's more than just listening to someone else's story. This story is OUR story. WE walk in darkness. And WE have seen a great light.
If you happened to be in Liuyang, China on October 20th, you were in for a record-breaking spectacle. Almost 16000 drones, equipped with LED lighting, flew in coordinated formation, acting like movable pixels on a massive outdoor 3D screen. This new technology is taking off rapidly, and will likely make fireworks obsolete. Maybe someday the drones will be able to carry flags or streamers for a show during the day. But for now, with LED's, the shows must be at night – it takes the context of darkness for the light to shine brilliantly.
Jesus' parents lived in a world of darkness. As we will hear from the story in Luke's Gospel, Roman Emperor Augustus was in control of their homeland, and Augustus had the power to compel everyone to travel great distances to be registered in a census. And the main reason for a census was so that the Emperor could extract more taxes, and exploit his subjects even further. The darkness was so thick, even the high standard of Israel's hospitality was gone, and an unwed soon-to-be-mother was judged harshly and shut out of the inn.
We live in a world of darkness, and that's all the more obvious at this time of year when daylight seems so hard to come by. We feel the darkness of having someone else in control, the power of addictions and self-destructive behaviours that we can't seem to master. We feel the darkness of exploitation, as the politically-induced economic downturn has us worrying about the present, and AI has us worrying about the future. We feel the darkness of exclusion, as old friends grow distant and new friends grow judgemental, or as we lose our ability to do the things that gave us identity, like our work or our hobbies. We feel the darkness of sin, of being away from God's presence, because we have chosen to rebel against God's will for our lives. And when our lives are over, all of the options are darkness: sudden accidental death, slow lingering death, death by medical assistance. We live in a land of deep darkness.