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. (Isaiah 9:2) These words were
spoken long ago to people living in anxiety, fear, and despair, people
feeling bereft of security, safety, and any sense of God's presence. We
hear them early on Christmas, forgetting that they were first spoken
hundreds of years before the birth we celebrate. Human beings across
this planet still yearn to know that a more gracious and divine reality
is active and evident in our lives.
The birth we
celebrate is meant for this world mired in darkness and fear, yet it
also becomes easier to discover in a tiny voice crying in protest over
being cold and wet and hungry. We hear that cry in the midst of war's
ravages in Congo and Afghanistan, in the rubble of hurricane and
earthquake, in the demeaning of chronic poverty, behind prison bars.
That flickering of hope surges as the world turns to investigate this
surprising new life, one heart at a time. The light grows as hearts
catch fire with the same light that illumines the stars, pulsing hope
and new life, even out of black holes. Those who search in dark and
despair, in dank dungeon and deep devastation, will find divine light
given for the world. Light that will not be put out, so long as any
creature remains to receive it, until and beyond the end of time. The
darkness will never put it out.
The light shines
in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. (John 1:5) Go and
look - and discover the love of God poured into our world in human
form. Hope reigns abroad, in the cosmos and in human hearts. And
rejoice, for a child of the light is born in our midst!
The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop and Primate, The Episcopal Church
Presiding Bishop and Primate, The Episcopal Church
