Christmas Day

Welcome

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Message

One of the most potent Christmas metaphors is light. We decorate with lights. We light candles. And we read texts like the one we’re about to read today, about light shining in the darkness.

It’s a pretty classic “light is good, darkness is bad” symbolism, and it’s one that’s found not just throughout the Bible, but in lots of different literature.

Which makes sense… nighttime can be a really scary place. You’re more likely to stub your toe. it’s the time thieves and scoundrels prefer as their dirty deeds can go unseen.

But one of the things we talk about a lot here at Catalyst is the difference between the ancient world and today. And one big difference is Race. Grouping people together in racial categories began in the 15th century, as European colonists sought justification for enslavement and the profits that slavery generated.

They turned often to the Bible, to passages like the one we’re exploring today. They used those old Biblical metaphors of light=good/dark=bad as an excuse to oppress, rob and enslave.

So today, it’s hard for a lot of folks to hear verses like these as the good news God intends them to be. Particularly for folks of color, these texts have been used as weapons of injustice rather than promises of liberation.

So what are we supposed to do about that? How can we gather for Christmas morning with our Christmas trees and our lights and read these verses knowing that they’ve been co-opted by wicked men for wicked reasons?

I want to read a prophecy from Isaiah 9 with you. It’s one you’ll likely have heard in some form before, even if it’s only in Handel’s Messiah. Pay attention to the light/dark imagery:

Isaiah 9:2–5 NLT

The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine. You will enlarge the nation of Israel, and its people will rejoice. They will rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest and like warriors dividing the plunder. For you will break the yoke of their slavery and lift the heavy burden from their shoulders. You will break the oppressor’s rod, just as you did when you destroyed the army of Midian. The boots of the warrior and the uniforms bloodstained by war will all be burned. They will be fuel for the fire.

So there you go. The people are suffering. They’re walking in darkness and need to see a great light. You can hear the light=good/dark=bad imagery, right?

So what do we do with it? If we recognize the language has become harmful, then we can get rid of it. That’s an option we have. Just quit reading and using the texts that are harming people.

I know for a lot of us that doesn’t sit right. We’ve received the whole of Scripture as canon, and picking and choosing - even for good reasons - feels wrong in a very real way.

On the far other end, we can just keep using the texts without change. We shrug and say, “Isaiah didn’t write about light and darkness in a racialized context, so any problem we might have with the text is our problem, not the text’s problem.”

That’s not necessarily wrong, but it sure is unloving. It’s ignoring that any work of faithful interpretation is one of doing both good interpretation of the original context and our context today.

So what if we do both? What if we refuse to discard the text but we also refuse to ignore the way it’s been weaponized today? What if we say, “You know, this light=good, dark=bad langauge is helpful, but it’s limited. Because dark isn’t always bad.”

After all, who wants to go to bed while it’s light outside? Many native peoples on this continent have understood the winter months - months of greater darkness - as a time for resting and preparing.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because those are themes of Advent. Darkness isn’t a time for evil; it’s a time of nurturing and caring, of healing and preparing for the next good work.

And in fact, this is how Isaiah understood all that had come before, the long history of God’s people both good and bad. God was preparing them for something new, and God wanted them to be ready for this new thing.

New Living Translation Chapter 9

For a child is born to us,

a son is given to us.

The government will rest on his shoulders.

And he will be called:

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7 His government and its peace

will never end.

He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David

for all eternity.

The passionate commitment of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies

will make this happen!

So friends, it’s Christmas Day. Jesus is Immanuel, God with us. And that means it’s time for creativity, for newness. It’s a day we honor all that has come before by paying special attention to the world in which God has placed us.

We do both. So let’s enter into Communion together as a community who is excited for how God is present to us!

Communion + Examen

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Assignment + Blessing

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