“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.
And yet, on a night like this one 2000 years ago, God brought his people from deep darkness to daylight in one action: the birth of a child. “To you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” And despite Satan's ongoing efforts, “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”
We have been given the gift of a great light tonight – the light that cannot be extinguished. This light comes from the Word of God, the Word of God that became flesh and lives among us - Jesus Christ, God's only son. God has given us this greatest gift so that the darkness cannot overcome us, so that no matter how dark the night seems, we know that we have light within us, and so we always have hope. We have hope that Jesus our Prince of Peace will guide us past our own acts of injustice, and then bring us to the place where no thieves can steal. We have hope that Jesus our Wonderful Counselor will break us free from our self-destructive and sinful habits, with the power we cannot muster for ourselves, and then bring us to the place where our urge for self-destruction is itself destroyed. We have hope that Jesus our Mighty God will use us to confront darkness, and multiply light in the world and create a community – the eternal family of all God's children - as we share the gift that we have received. And we have hope that our Everlasting Father will take us to live with him forever once we are finished here, to continue the loving relationship he restored with us with the sacrifice of Jesus' death on the cross. We have a great light, and darkness cannot overcome us. Thanks be to God! Amen.