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MONDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2007

THE EVE OF CHRISTMAS

Luke 2 (Et lux in tenebris lucet)

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TODAY’S SERMON THEME:

Poets, artists, historians, and even Hollywood film-makers have tried to capture the message and the meaning of Christmas. But no one has succeeded as well as John’s Gospel, Chapter 1, verse 5. The Latin text is: “Et lux in tenebris lucet, et tenebrae eam non comprehenderunt." In modern English, it is: "The Light (of Christ) pierces the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it." Quite simply, there is NO darkness -- in this life and in the next life -- strong enough, or deep enough, or stubborn enough to block even one tiny ray of the Light of Christ. The Light shines as powerfully today as it did 20 centuries ago, when Christ the Savior was born.
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1. Most days, I never know what to expect when I answer the telephone. Just like most of you, my telephones (at home, in the office, in my car) ring all day long. Until I answer, I never know if the caller is friend, family, or stranger. And I never know if the call will focus on life or on death, on joy or on sorrow. Like most of you, I have received all sorts of calls. But rarely have I received a call like the one I received not too long ago. It was a call from a man I had met only briefly, at a meeting. He called to make an emergency prayer request for himself. He said his request could not wait one more day. It was Christmas time, and he was in desperate shape. He did not need money. Or food. Or a job. Or a handout. Or a place to stay for the night. Or a bus ticket to Sioux Falls. WHAT HE NEEDED WAS HOPE. And he needed it immediately. He said he could not face another Christmas Eve all by himself. He explained that his wife had left him three years ago and that his only child, a teenaged boy, had been diagnosed with inoperable cancer. He was totally ALONE in the world -- no family, no friends, no close business associates. Just some former drinking buddies. And he had just gotten his 90-day chip -- 90 days of living alcohol free. HE SIMPLY COULD NOT FACE THE DARKNESS OF ANOTHER CHRISTMAS EVE ALL BY HIMSELF. I talked to him for half-an-hour, and then I prayed with him. I prayed that he would be willing to take ONE SMALL STEP, one small act of faith. He had called for PRAYER, after all, so he obviously had some part of him -- deep inside -- that was willing to take that small step of faith. I prayed that he would try his best to REACH OUT WITH HIS HEART in the darkness and SEE THE LIGHT OF CHRIST. To do that, he would have to look BEYOND the immediate circumstances of his life, BEYOND the horrible heartache and pain. I prayed that he could see, for just a moment, the true LIGHT of Christmas. He said he would try. He also said he would be in church tonight. I hope and pray that he is.

2. Several decades ago, the great Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote about the darkest moment in his life. It happened during his long years in the labor camps of the former Soviet Union. One day, the great writer reached the point of total defeat. Total despair. Total desperation. He had run out of hope, and the only alternative was to take his own life. At the time, he was working outdoors in a group of forced laborers. On the spur of the moment, at the point of deepest darkness, he decided to sit down and give up. He did not care if the guards saw him. He was ready to be shot. He WANTED to be shot. He WANTED to die. The darkness of life had overwhelmed him. Suddenly, as he sank to the ground in despair, a man he had never seen before -- a man he never saw again -- sat down on the ground with him. Solzhenitsyn watched silently as the stranger picked up a stick and drew the sign of the Cross on the ground. He stared at the Cross for several minutes, not even exchanging words with the stranger. Suddenly, he looked up to find that the stranger was gone. And just as suddenly, Solzhenitsyn decided that he wanted to keep on living. He wrote later that the Light of Christ suddenly burst into his heart, piercing the darkness. Suddenly, he found hope to live.

3. Poets, artists, historians, and even Hollywood film-makers have tried to capture the message and the meaning of Christmas. But no one has succeeded as well as John’s Gospel, Chapter 1, verse 5. The Latin text is: “Et lux in tenebris lucet, et tenebrae eam non comprehenderunt." In modern English, it is: "The Light (of Christ) pierces the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it." Quite simply, there is NO darkness -- in this life and in the next life -- strong enough, or deep enough, or stubborn enough to block even one tiny ray of the Light of Christ. The Light shines as powerfully today as it did 20 centuries ago, when Christ the Savior was born.
4. Because of Christmas -- because God cared enough to send his Son to be born of a human mother -- darkness will never again have the final word over life. Because God chose to intervene so dramatically in His own creation, all of creation was changed. Forever. The Light that burst from the manger in Bethlehem 20 centuries ago continues to burn brightly to this day. And it matters not at all which language you hear, read, or speak:

In Latin, it is: Et lux in tenebris lucet.

In Spanish, it is: Esta luz brilla en las tiniebras.

In Greek, it is: Kai to phos en tay skoria phainei.

In Romanian, it is: Lumina lumineaza in inturnec.

In French, it is: La lumiere brille dans les tenebres.

In Italian, it is: La luce splende nelle tenebre.

No matter how you hear it, how you read it, or how you say it . . . The Light of Christ shines in the darkness, and the darkness is powerless to overcome it.

5. Tonight we have the privilege once again to hear the message of the angels -- the message that endures throughout all ages and in all times. Tonight we have the privilege to journey in our hearts to the little town of Bethlehem, to see the sights and hear the sounds that the shepherds, the angels, and the little farm animals saw and heard. Tonight we have the privilege to ponder in our hearts the miracle of the birth of the Son of God -- the message spoken so eloquently in our Gospel lesson from Luke Chapter 2. Here is what we encounter in those holy words:

(1) The shepherds were keeping watch over the flocks at night, watching and waiting. And suddenly they heard a loud disturbance in the heavens, and an angel appeared to them, announcing the miraculous event that was just then taking place in a tiny hillside cave in the city of David, Bethlehem.

(2) The shepherds quickly returned to Bethlehem and found that what the angel had spoken was true. They found Mary and Joseph and the infant Jesus in the tiny cave. And the child was wrapped in long strips of linen -- swaddling clothes -- and was placed in a manger, a feeding trough filled with hay.

(3) And the shepherds saw the fulfillment of the prophecy -- that a young girl would conceive a bear a child, who would be called Emmanuel, which means “God with us.”

6. Into the DARKNESS of the world controlled by the Roman Empire, light from heaven burst forth. Into a world of fear, confusion, pain, and uncertainty, the LIGHT of God burst forth. Into the least of all villages (Bethlehem of Judea), into the least of all nations (Roman-occupied Israel), into the most confused of places on earth, God’s Son was born. And nothing would ever be the same.

7. You see, the very first verse of the Bible -- Genesis 1:1 -- sets the stage for the ultimate triumph of God’s LIGHT over the forces of darkness. From the original Hebrew text we hear these words at the beginning of the Bible:

BERE’SHIIT BARA’A ELOHIM RA’IT HA’SHAMAYIM RU’HAIT HA’ARETZ -- “In the beginning, GOD created the heavens and the earth.” The God who created all things in the beginning, the God who set in motion all of creation, the God who planted all the stars in the sky, the SAME GOD took human flesh and came among us. The One who created us came to be our Savior, our Redeemer, our Lord. HE BECAME LIKE US SO THAT WE MIGHT BECOME LIKE HIM. He came not only to SHOW us the way of salvation . . . He Himself BECAME the way of our salvation.

The great St. Augustine, writing in his commentaries 1600 years ago, put it this way: “God became a man for this purpose: Since you, a human being, could not reach God, but you CAN reach other humans, you might now reach God through a man. And so the man Christ Jesus became the mediator of God and human beings. God became a man so that by following a man -- something you ARE able to do -- you might reach God, something which was formerly impossible to you.”

“Et lux in tenebris lucet, et tenebrae eam non comprehenderunt.” The Light of Christ pierces the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it. And now there is NO darkness -- in this life or the next -- that is strong enough, or deep enough, or stubborn enough to block even one tiny ray of the Light of Christ. The Light shines as powerfully today as it did 20 centuries ago, when Christ the Lord was born.

And it is our privilege to say: Come, let us adore Him.