This Little Light of Mine

John 1:1-9

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

On this dark night, it is so very good to be in the presence of light—the light of family, the light of friends, and the actual light of so many candles. When I was a child, this service was one of may favorites, tapping into something deep within even my child-self. There was something about singing a carol while the sanctuary lights dimmed, replaced by the growing throng of little candles. That was the very light of Jesus, dispelling the cold darkness of night and, at times, the even colder light of human willfulness. 

So many of us have felt the darkness creep over the world this past year. Things have not been smooth. There have been natural disasters of fire and storm; there have been wars and rumors of war; there has been a lot of governmental chaos; and there have been so many random acts of violence effecting hundreds, some striking very near to home. Add to that our own personal moments of sorrow, suffering, and struggle, and darkness creeps over us.

But here on this night, in this place, there is light—the soft light of Christmas—pure, holy respite.

It has always been reassuring to me that Christ manifested as an infant—the most helpless form of being human that there is. In that simple reality, God meets us as we are, where we are, and how we are. God completely understands our frailty, our weakness, and our inability to save ourselves. God truly and actually is with us, Blessed Immanuel.

But beyond that, there is the glorious grace of God entrusting Jesus to the care of Mary and Joseph. Jesus will never be the messiah if his parents can’t get him to maturity. But God has faith in Joseph and Mary. God believes they will live into their calls as the mother and father of the Savior. 

And they were no different from us.

 I am reading a simple, profound book, Vintage Saints and Sinners, by Karen Marsh, a pastor working at the University of Virginia. The wonderful thing about saints, she tells us, is that they remain utterly and completely human. Read their stories—Francis, Teresa, etc.—there are the temptations, questions, worries, fears, weaknesses, failures, and odd strengths we all have. But God is with them, enabling them to become whom God believes they can be. The message is clear—God gives us the Gospel, but then sticks with us, empowering our ability to live into the compassion, mercy, and grace of Jesus. God wants us to be the means by which the world is changed. God wants us to be the presence of Jesus in the world. But God knows us and everything about us that gets in the way or diverts us. God IS with us, our Immanuel—God will see us through the work to be the ones through the Gospel reaches its maturity.

God trusts us! God wants us to succeed! 

Some might look at our little gathering on this night and quietly shake their heads. It’s nice and all, but can it really make a difference?

I am suddenly back in my Daddy’s church on Christmas Eve. There were maybe fifty of us. The organ swung into the closing the carol. A deacon began to dim the lights as a couple of elders lit their candles from the Christ candle. They began to pass the light of Jesus through the group. What seemed a small group in the large sanctuary suddenly came aglow. The room changed, transformed, and, yes, even transfigured. The light of Christ shone through our little congregation. Those fifty candles completely altered our reality.

We begin to believe.

We begin to believe we can make a difference.

Even us. 

One small light at a time.

One small light flowing from the Light of the World, the light no darkness could ever overcome.