Land of Deep Darkness

Blue Christmas Service Saturday December 20, 2014

Reverend Michelle L. Knight

Isaiah 9:2-7

“Christmas Lights: Land of Deep Darkness”

Let us pray… Come Light of the World and illumine the darkness within and around, so that we may cling to your brilliant hope.  Come, Emmanuel, come.  Amen.

The land of deep darkness…is Peshawar, Pakistan as that community mourns 148 deaths by terrorist attack.  The land of deep darkness is Sydney, Australia as the community grieves the hostage crisis and attack which left three dead and others wounded. The land of deep darkness is Sierra Leone and Liberia as medical workers go house to house checking on Ebola patients and their families. The land of deep darkness…is Anderson, Indiana where a malnourished 40 pound teenager was rescued from the abuse of her grandparents. 

The land of deep darkness…is where are families live be they Brownsburg, Avon, Indianapolis, Hendricks county… my street, your street, my home and your home.  Just five days after Christmas our goddaughter will have her third brain surgery to remove a tumor.  Yes, there is a lot of different kinds of darkness.

Indeed, our land… dwells in darkness.  Just 9 hours and 22 minutes of day light tomorrow… the year’s shortest day.  Tonight begins the longest night. 

It is no coincidence that the winter solstice is also the Feast Day for Saint Thomas the Apostle!  The ancient church leaders were wise to make this connection. You remember Thomas?!  He was the disciple who missed the opportunity greet the Risen Jesus and thus expressed his doubts about Jesus…until he met the Risen Lord for himself!  Thus there is an inherent significance when we connect Thomas's struggle to believe the tale of Jesus' resurrection, the long nights just before Christmas, and the struggle with darkness faced by those living with loss.  Winter solstice; the longest night of the year and St. Thomas, our deep darkness are good companions.

Into the darkness a prophet speaks.  Isaiah’s words resonate today as they did millennia ago when he first uttered them.  Technology has changed, but the darkness has not.  We live in a land of deep darkness; that is unfortunately, always contemporary: violence, war, anguish, suffering, pain, loss, trauma, abuse, neglect, and isolation. 

And yet, and yet, it is into this darkness Jesus was born.  This is the message of the prophet… that light is coming. Light will dawn in a child whose presence, giftedness, leadership and love will illumine the world.  No wonder his nicknames will be Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.  No wonder he is worthy of all this fuss.  "We celebrate joyfully 'a son given to us' not in spite of all that is horrible, dangerous, or distressing about the world around us, but precisely because of it."(Weekly Comments on the Revised Common Lectionary, Theological Hall of the Uniting Church, Melbourne, Australia) 

Because of the darkness Jesus was born for us.

And this is our hope.

This is our light…in the midst of the deep darkness.

This is hope to hang onto because peace exists because of Him.

Our Bishop writes his bi-monthly, E-Pistle.  This week my email in-box was filled with his Blue Christmas message.  Bishop Mike said it best; “Jesus was born into the darkness, to a people who were living in darkness, poverty, repression, defeat and pain. Jesus came into a hurting world to bring light, hope and healing. Jesus did not come to those who were in the midst of parties and celebrations focused upon wealth and the accumulation of possessions (in fact the grown-up Jesus had harsh words for those persons for being a part of injustice). No, Jesus came into a hurting world to help and heal hurting people.”

Jesus came to help you.

Jesus came to heal you.

He came to help and heal me too.

His light makes all the difference as we live in our land of darkness.

Earlier this Advent the clergy of our district met for worship, teaching session, and a wonderful meal at Greenwood UMC.  Pastor In Suk gave an inspiring message from her childhood. In Suk moved from Korea to the US when she was in her twenties. She told us about one of the Christmas traditions in her native Korean village. 

Imagine a huge bonfire built outside the doors of a small, simple church.  On a December  dark and cold night, children, teens and adults would tend the fire; bringing wood, stirring the embers so that heat was just right.  Special Christmas cake was baked on this fire.  And it took some time to do the baking.  As fires go... the flames needed to be tended so that the cake would not burn. 

While some folks tended the fire, other parents and church leaders were in the sanctuary leading the children and teens through the story of God.  Children ran back and forth from outside by the fire to inner warmth of the church sanctuary  where the entire story of the Bible was enacted and told from the Garden of Eden all the way to the birth of Jesus, the visitation by shepherds and wise travelers from the east.  Must have taken awhile to bake those special Christmas cakes!

In Suk reflects on the wonder and joy of that special night with her church family.  The night was a celebration of dramatic contrasts: dark and light; cold and warm; hunger and satisfaction; waiting and the expectation; unknown of the future and also hope.  And all of the evening’s activities; both the bonfire and the Word of God, were tended by the community working and sharing together.  I can just imagine running from the fire as a small child back into the sanctuary where the story of God unfolds so that young and old alike hear the long, wandering narrative of God’s saving, loving grace for humanity culminating in a stable with a child who is born for us. 

We may not be in Korea, but there is fire tonight that needs to be tended.  You are here because your fire feels dim amidst the darkness.  And we: young and old, married and widowed, single and divorced, grieving and hopeful, eager and downtrodden; as a community tend the flames of our hope together.  Our God first put the light within each one of us.  Then, gave us the gift of Jesus to further empower with compassion.  We need only stir the embers this evening. 

          You may have heard about a Elisabeth Kubler-Ross.  She is credited with wonderful insight and wisdom into the stages of grief and the process of grieving.  A less known thought of hers is this, “People are like stained - glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.”

            The prophet Isaiah reminds us all that we do have a light within. Together we tend the flame. Tending looks like prayer, support, encouragement, and being present to one another.  Members of our prayer ministry and pastoral staff will come forward by the kneeling rails.  Mark will provide beautiful reflective music.

            If you need prayer, encouragement or the warmth of a friend of God… come forward.

If you are here because someone you love is suffering and struggling, come forward and receive prayer for them and yourself as a person of support. Let us tend the Light of God within one another.  Amen.