Christmas Sermon -- Anno Domini 2004

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” Isaiah 9:2.

This is a familiar text.
It is one we are bound to hear read or sung each and every Christmas.

If we are not careful, we can misunderstand this text.
We might suppose that those who walk in darkness have seen a great light because
they have possessed great insight,
or made a discovery,
or because they are wise and clever people.

Isaiah’s very next line clears this up right away.
“Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.”

They did not find the light themselves.
The light came to them.

We hear an echo of Isaiah’s words in the Christmas Gospel we just read.
“And the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid.”

When the angel came to the shepherds, there was a great burst of unexpected light.

This carries us right back to the Creation itself.
“And God said, Let there be light. And there was light.”

Tonight, as we remember the birth of Jesus Christ,
we celebrate the beginning of a New Creation.

So we do well to remember those shepherds to whom the light appeared.
They were the people walking in darkness.

Now the darkness had nothing to do with the time of day. That is beside the point.

Our Saviour was born into a dark world.
A world dark with sin.
A world that is still dark.
This is the world in which we live.
This is the world in which we worship tonight.

Tonight our church is ablaze with candles.
On the altar, in the sanctuary,
at the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham,
around the creche.

Why do Christian burn candles in their churches?
We have electricity, and most of the time we worship in broad daylight.

The candles remind us that we live in a dark world,
A world cut off from the blazing light of God’s presence and God’s truth.

The shepherds themselves were men of darkness.
Shepherds, you know, were not exactly nice people.
They were commonly regarded as little more than criminals.
Shepherds were untrustworthy people.
Jewish law did not allow them to testify in court.

But these were the people who saw the light.
Why, in heaven’s name, would the angel come to them?
They were dirty, low-born people---the scum and refuse of the earth.

But the angel came to THEM.
They were the ones whom God chose to hear the message of the angels.
God is funny that way.
His greatest gifts come to those who deserve least.

Tonight we also hear the message of the angels.
“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”
Tonight we also see the light.

We have to ask ourselves,
Why, in heaven’s name, are we—of all people-- allowed this privilege?
To hear this message, to see this light?
We also walk in darkness. Never forget that.

Listen carefully to the angels’ song:

“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace
among men with whom HE is pleased.”

No, we are not here because of our spiritual insight,
or because we made a discovery,
or because we are wise and clever people.

We are here because God in His goodness and mercy
was pleased to call us and invite us here.

Yes, we celebrate tonight the beginning of a new creation.
The creation ruined and spoiled by Adam and Eve is starting all over again.
This is mankind’s second chance.
This is the totally fresh start which we so desperately need but do not deserve.

Because Jesus was born in Bethlehem and laid in a manger,
We have been reborn.

Charles Wesley got it right:

Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth

St John tells us:
“The light shineth in the darkness.”
That is the darkness of our sin, the darkness of our fallen nature.
“And the darkness has not overcome it.”

All the sin in the world cannot overpower the tiny infant in Mary’s arms.

St Paul tells us:
“For it is the God who said,
‘Let light shine out of darkness,’
Who has shone in our hearts
To give the light of the knowledge
Of the glory of God
In the face of Christ.”

That’s amazing.
That same light which blazed forth at the creation,
the light which startled the shepherds,
the light Isaiah talked about,
that very same light is shining in our hearts tonight.

Let us say to each other, then get up, and follow the shepherds.

“Let us now go even unto Bethlehem,
and see this thing which is come to pass.
Which the Lord hath made known unto us.”

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