Perhaps you have heard of Jacques Lusseyran, a blind French resistance fighter whose memoir is titled. And There Was Light. During one period of hard play, when he was eight years old, he fell hard against the corner of a desk, and the breaking of his glasses severely damaged both eyes. When he woke up in the hospital, his sight was completely gone. At the age of seven he was completely and permanently blind. While his parents were urged to send him to a school for the blind, they refused, and sought to keep him. They never treated him as “less fortunate”. His mother learned Braille so that she might teach him, and the school principal made special effort to enhance his education. And his father, encouraging his son’s special gifts, said, “Always tell us when you discover something.” Lusseyran said that ten days into this experience, he made a life saving discovery: “I had completely lost the sight of my eyes; I could not see the light of the world anymore. Yet the light was still there.”
Every Christmas Eve, we light the Christ Candle, and read a line from the Gospel of John that says, “The light shines in the darkness.” Note, it does not say ‘The light shines instead of the darkness.” Christian theology has sometimes overdone the distinction between light and dark, so as to suggest that darkness is always bad, and that light is always good. But the mystery of Christmas is that the “dark” is full of “light”, but like the French Resistance fighter, we have to learn new ways of seeing. It has always been true, but is especially true now, that the flame of the Christ Candle calls us to welcome the goodness and love of Jesus into our world, and into our lives.
The sermon for the first Sunday after Christmas is titled, “The Glory of God Wrapped in Human Darkness,” arising from John 1:1-5, and Luke 2:8-14, read by Kati and Mason Oard. The Sanctuary Singers, accompanied by Nara Lee, will lead us musically, and Patrick Conklin will present a solo. There will be a children’s moment, prayers and Christmas Carols.
We look forward to your joining us on the Live Stream at 10:30.