The Light Shines in the Darkness
December 10, 2023 + Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran + Pastor Pam Stalheim Lane
“Mommy Come! Come!” My mother came quickly into my room. “What’s wrong?” She asked.“There is a skunk under my bed!” She flipped on the light. “Let’s see.” Together we looked under my bed. My teddy bear and doll had fallen off the bed. But no skunks. Somehow things looked different with the light on.
Mine was just a bad childhood dream -- but there are times when our problems are more than childhood nightmares. There are times that we can get discouraged, times when challenges of our world and of our life feel overwhelming and our world feels grim.
It was into such a world that baby Jesus was born. Israel was occupied by Roman forces. Freedom from oppression seemed like a far-off dream. The people were poor. Nightmares happened during the day.
John could have begun his Gospel by describing the world in this way. But instead, John turns the light on and casts a cosmic vision of God that hearkens back to the first words of the Bible. In the beginning…
In the beginning was the WORD and the Word was God. And when God spoke – or maybe sang – the world into being, God created life – and the life was the light of all people. John shines a light on something new that God is doing that began at the very beginning of time and is continuing today - in you. Hear the word of hope and promise: The light shines in the darkness – and the darkness cannot overcome it. No matter what the darkness, the challenge, or the nightmare may be: The light of Christ shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome.
Pastor and Poet Steve Garnaas-Holmes invites us to:
Listen for God singing the world into being.
Look for the light shining in the music.
Notice this cosmic song, this act of Creation,
rising in you, unfolding, radiating,
shining in the darkness.
The true light that enlightens everyone
is coming into the world.
And this is why we hope – even in the darkest and most challenging of times. This is why we sing. For the light of the world has come and continues to shine – and the darkness cannot overcome it. So let us sing with joy-filled hearts for Christ our light has come into the world and no darkness can overcome the love and light of Christ. Thanks be to God. Amen.
1Steve Garnaas-Holmes, www.unfoldinglight.net Permission granted to reproduce a portion of the poem “True Light, Dec 2017”