Nativity Light
“The People who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone.” (Isaiah 9:1)

On behalf of the entire Church of the Transfiguration staff, I wish you all a merry and a blessed Christmas. My wish, of course, extends to regular attendees, our parishioners, visitors here for Christmas and those of you among us who may be distanced from the Church for whatever reason. We are all God’s family, and God is delighted that all of us are here on this blessed night of his Son’s birth. All of us belong at the manger – no exceptions; no questions asked.

Much of the story of Christmas is a story of light in darkness. Jesus is born at night in the dark of winter, but a bright light, a star, appears in the ebony sky. Angels, surrounded with God’s radiance, light up the night sky as they sing their hosannas of joy. And most important of all, the world, enshrouded in darkness, receives its long awaited infusion of light, promised by God through the prophet Isaiah 700 years earlier: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone.” The infant in the manger is that promised light.

If we had to choose one image to symbolize what Christmas is all about, it would surely be the image of light. First, because Jesus himself chose light to describe why he came into the world, saying: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

Before the Incarnation, people, metaphorically speaking, were staggering about in darkness. That’s because the ancient world, for all but a privileged few, was a brutish and ominous place. By his birth, however, Jesus changes all that, illuminating the darkness for all people of all time because, as Scripture assures us, God so loves the world, that he sends his only Son that all humanity may have life through him. The baby Mary delivered is our deliverer and savior.

The second reason light is a perfect symbol of Christmas is because of what Jesus says to us: “You are the light of the world…Your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”

About a month before Christmas 1965, a power failure blacked out the entire City of New York. I was a student there at the time, a 20 year old junior at Columbia College. Shortly after power was restored to some subway lines, I took the downtown IRT train from Morningside Heights in upper Manhattan, where my campus was located, to Times Square. It was strange to see that world renown canyon of light eerily and uncharacteristically dark.

The disaster occurred at just about the height of the evening winter rush hour, when darkness was beginning to descend on the city. Thousands of commuters were caught in tunnels and trains. Thousands were trapped in high rises. Thousands were trapped in crowded elevators between floors of tall buildings.

What surprised New Yorkers, who have a reputation of being uncaring about others, and especially surprised New York’s finest, its police force, was how people responded to the blackout. Oh sure, a few grew angry and a few took advantage of the situation, but by and large, people responded with amazing concern.

They helped one another. They worked together, for example, to assist the elderly and disabled in a special way. You could hear singing on commuter trains and in darkened corridors of skyscrapers. What was even more amazing was that crime was almost nonexistent.

The blackout and, perhaps the nearness of Christmas, helped people discover a dimension in themselves that they never knew they had. One newspaper reporter used the words of Isaiah from today’s first reading to describe the phenomenon: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light: upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone.”

Christmas is a special invitation for each of us to discover in ourselves a dimension of goodness which we call Jesus Christ. It’s an invitation to let that dimension shine forth into the darkness that stubbornly persists in the world.

Many of us today, however, especially with the precariousness of the national and global economy, find it difficult to shine forth. We feel lost in darkness, experiencing gloom instead of joy. It may be the gloom of disillusioned love; the dark of sin; the night of addiction; the blackness of depression; the winter of pain and loss; the pall of financial worry or illness. Christmas assures us that God intends us be joyful; wants us to bask in and radiate light, but the reality for those who are struggling is often quite different.

One explanation for this is the mistaken notion that if you can just accumulate enough stuff, money, fame, power, or the like you will be happy. But if that were true, how do you explain the untimely deaths of Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Janis Joplin, John Belushi, Howard Hughes, River Phoenix, Heath Ledger and a host of other celebrities who seemingly had it all, but died from drug over doses? Did they sedate themselves and finally suicide because they found fulfillment?

Of course not! Our souls don’t hunger for stuff, fame, wealth or power, attainment of which often create as many problems as they resolve. What our souls hunger for is meaning. But, unfortunately, too many of us are searching for meaning, like love, in all the wrong places.

We overlook the essential fact that what modern society values as achievements are often won at the cost of diminishing our humanity. Consumerism, materialism, hedonism, rugged individualism, fierce competition, for example, all undermine, rather than nourish, our spiritual well being. Ironically, we may have all the things on our wish list and still feel empty. What’s lacking is the realization that living for yourself never brings satisfaction. Only living for others does. That’s the way to a meaningful life. That’s God’s prescription for a life of light and joy.

As we open ourselves to the “good news of great joy” the angels proclaimed on this night so long ago, we experience the breadth of human emotions; we realize our connectedness to all life; feel compassion for others; and are better able to deal with life’s disappointments and tragedies. When we ourselves experience joy, we can’t help but spread it to those around us. As our joy expands we feel deeply connected to ourselves, to others, and to something much bigger than ourselves we call God.

What’s the surest way to experience joy? Jesus says it plainly: Love one another as I have loved you. At the Last Supper on the night before he died, he washes the disciples’ feet and says: “As I have done for you, so you must do for others.” Doing good, in short, makes you feel good. In a world where lots of things aren’t the way they should be and where it’s often easy to miss what’s really important, God uses basic human relationships as a means of sharing His love with us. God, in effect, uses you and me like antiseptic on a wound to heal those who are hurting, particularly the weakest and neediest among us. And never doubt that a relationship can be transforming.

So to those who are struggling, living life joylessly, in a sort of gloom, a sort of dark, a sort of night, and ask, in the words of Peggy Lee’s pop song hit, “Is that all there is?” Christmas answers emphatically, “That’s not all there is!” Christmas answers, “You need something more and there is something more!” Christmas answers, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light!” That light is the babe in the manger. So open your eyes; bask in His light; shine forth your own and be joyful!

Again, I wish you all a merry and a blessed Christmas!!

Anthony J. Sciolino
Isaiah 9:1-6; Titus 211-14; Luke 2:1-14.
Nativity of the Lord: Midnight Mass.
December 25, 2008. (Cycle B)