The reading for today from Isaiah begins with the wonderful prophecy, saying that: ‘The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light: those who lived in a land of deep darkness, on them light has shined.’ Fast forward a few hundred years to the town of Bethlehem and come with me down a small back street and pause outside an inn. The inn is dark and silent but if we tiptoe around to the back, we will find in the shadows a doorway into a stable. Something is going on inside – there’s the soft bleating of a lamb, a rustling of the straw, the moaning of a young woman calling out in pain - and then the unmistakable sound of the cries of a new-born baby. The scene is lit by a star glowing brightly overhead, lighting up the sky with a shimmery light. Jesus has been born.

For two thousand years Christians have linked the words of the prophet Isaiah with the birth of Jesus, who is worshipped as the longed-for Messiah, the Anointed One, the Christ. We read from the Gospel of Luke about the shepherds hearing the jubilant song of the angels praising God and urging them to go to see the baby who they will find lying in a manger. In the Gospel of Matthew, we find the wise men following a star, believing it to portend the birth of a great king. Saint John, however,does not begin his Gospel with the story of Jesus’ birth but only refers to the ‘Word’, who ‘was with God and who was God’ and who was also ‘the light of all people.’

This is the message of Christmas. Into the darkness of our world a light has come, God coming to be with us, as one of us, to experience life on earth and to save us by triumphing over darkness by absorbing and destroying the darkness within theinfinite power of love.

Life may look dark right now – wars, suffering, disasters, death. There may be darkness in your own life, the darkness of grief, pain or regret. But the message of Christmas, of the baby who grew up to be the Christ, is that the darkness doesn’t win. We can trust in the One who was the Light and be filled with that same Light. That Light tells us that resurrection follows death, forgiveness follows regret, peace follows strife. We may not experience full wholeness and healing here on earth but we can ask the Light to fill us more and more, so much so that we can actually contribute to the Light in our world.

However you will be spending Christmas, I pray that you will know deep joy and peace and that you can trust that, no matter what has happened or will happen in the future, ‘the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.’

Rev’d Christina Rees