Given at the Lynnville (IL) UMC on January 2, 2005, the verses are from Isaiah 60: 1-6…

       I like light! Many is the time I’ve walked into a room and asked why someone is working in the dark, and start turning on lights. My garage and workshop have lots of fluorescent lights mounted about, and I usually have one or two trouble lights to help, as well! I mean, I like light!

And, as any who chanced to see the different plays and dances I set-up during high-school, attended some of the ‘special Services’ I did while at Lynnville, or the Christmas light displays I used to do-up outside of Jacksonville might guess, I also like playing with light! In fact, I have always enjoyed anything that makes or uses light. From candles to lasers, from lenses to fiber optics, light has always fascinated me.

       The Adler Planetarium, in Chicago, has many displays describing the various properties of light… did you know that light can be ‘bent’ by gravity? Indeed, if the gravity effect is great enough, it will pull all light that comes into its field into it and not let it escape… this is what they call a ‘black hole’. And you probably know that the term ‘light year’ pertains to a measure of distance, not time… it is the distance that light travels in one solar year. Since light moves at the rate of 186,000 mi/sec, a light year is equal to 5,880,000,000,000 miles!

       One of the interactive exhibits they have at the Adler is a duplicate to ones I have seen at other science-related museums, but I can never seem to resist it… it consists of a highly focused beam of light coming out of a hole in a small table, and a series of mirrors, colored filters, and shaped pieces of glass that one can use to bend, color, and explore all of the various things you can do with light. Unless there is a line of kids waiting to use it, I can sit for fifteen-twenty minutes, sometimes, just playing with that beam of light!

       Light is important to all of us for one reason or another… light is absorbed by almost all plant life and converted into many good things… oxygen to breath, vegetables for nutrition… why, even grass and hay and such are eaten by many animals and converted into meat which most of us eat for our protein!

       And even our own bodies have a craving and need for massive amounts of light. Ever notice how tired some of us get during the short days of winter? Some people claim that that is caused by not getting a sufficient amount of sunlight each day! And some of those people claim that that explains why many of our ‘festivals of light’ occur at this time of year. Let me quote from a report I found on-line regarding some research done by the National Institute of Mental Health…

       “Is it any wonder then that there are so many festivals of light which gather in the valley of the year? There is the celebration of Christ’s birth on the 25th day of December on the Julian calendar; Christmas-time, celebrated by clothing tree and home with twinkling lights, by warm gatherings of family and friends with candles glowing on the dinner table and media images of warm, cozy fires burning in the hearth. And there is Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, at different times in different years according to the Julian calendar, but always celebrated on the 25th day of Kislev of the Hebrew calendar, and always close to Christmastime. It is celebrated by the lighting of candles on the Chanukeya on eight consecutive nights, and by the warm smell of potato latkes — potato pancakes — coming from the kitchen. Coincidence? Probably not. The NIMH research suggests that it very likely is something about the time of year rather than the actual timing of historical events which dictate when these holidays of light occur. Historians tell us, for instance, that Christ was probably born at a time very different from when his birthday is celebrated. And who knows when during the year the true reclamation of the Temple from its desecration by the ancient Romans occurred, that historical event culminating in what oral tradition refers to as the Miracle of Lights

There are many who now believe that the most important reasons for festivals of light collecting cross-culturally in the trough of the year has more to do with the cycle of seasons than with true historical dates. According to this thinking, the more important reason for the holidays occurring when they do is to light up the spirits during the darkest days.”

Now, it’s true when another web-site asks the question, “Is December 25 really the day Jesus was born?”, and answers… ”No one really knows. What is known is that Christian leaders in 336 A.D. set the date to December 25 in an attempt to eclipse a popular pagan holiday in Rome that celebrated the winter solstice. Originally, the celebration of Christmas involved a simple mass, but over time Christmas has replaced a number of other holidays in many other countries, and a large number of traditions have been absorbed into the celebration in the process.” And I don’t think that anybody here this morning is surprised by that… the fact of the matter is that the exact day of Jesus’ birth isn’t important… only the fact that He was born! And if people have chosen to celebrate that birth at a time when it seems as if everyone needs a real boost to their spirits… why, what’s wrong with that? After all, isn’t that a part of what Christ’s birth was to be about… lifting one’s spirit?

But I digress… I started out this morning by talking how much I really like light! The converse of that, then, is that I really don’t like dark! Darkness holds monsters and demons and all kinds of bad things! Dark hides things that stick out at knee level and jump out to get you… dark hides the bolt-hole you’re trying to line-up to finish a project… dark prevents us from seeing all of the beauty that God has created around us and forces us to question its very existence… because, sometimes it’s hard to remember that beauty when surrounded by darkness! Satan loves the darkness, because, most of all, darkness can hide truth!

But what does Isaiah say in this morning’s reading? “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.” Jesus IS the Light!

John starts out his story of the Gospel of Christ by saying… “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.”

Of John the Baptist, he says… “There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.”  

Jesus IS the Light! The Magi followed that light, as represented by a star, to find the baby Jesus and worship Him and bring Him gifts suitable for a king. Indeed Isaiah prophesied that they would “come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the LORD.” And Mathew tells us that that is indeed what happened! “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.”

I like light! And Jesus is the Light! He is the light that dispels all darkness! His Light drives away the evil of Satan and lets all Truth shine through! His Light is the source of all that is good and right in the world and in heaven! His Light is our salvation!

And… He is alive today! The Lord lives! His Light shines on! In fact, I think the Gospel of John sums it all up pretty well…

“The Word”… or should I say, ‘The Light?’ “…became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory… the glory of the One and Only… who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” And might I add… Light!