Saturday, December 20, 1997

The true light and love of Christmas can break through life's darkness

By Lauren R. Stanley / Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service

Christmas is the season of light, the true light that enlightens every one. It is the season to celebrate the light that shines in the darkness, which the darkness cannot overcome.

And yet, when we open the newspapers or watch the TV, we see not light, but darkness. We see famine and hatred in sub-Saharan Africa, persecution in Asia. We hear of markets and currencies tumbling and of starvation in North Korea.

In the United States, the darkness descends as young people are killed by a friend in small-town Kentucky; as toddlers are held hostage and the kidnapper killed in the rescue; as racial distrust and even hatred continue to tear apart our communities, as the homeless struggle to survive on downtown streets.

How, we ask in the midst of all this darkness, can we celebrate the light that has come into the world in the person of Jesus Christ?

It would appear that contrary to John's doxological Gospel, the darkness indeed has overcome the light.

To counter that darkness, we tend to ignore it, to throw ourselves into partying and shopping and decorating. Because the darkness is so dark, we want to turn a blind eye at all that is going on around us that is not full of light.

After all, we say, it is Christmas. We should be celebrating.

It is an easy, and all-too-human reaction, to turn away from the darkness, to ignore it as best we can.

But that isn't what John meant when he wrote that glorious prologue to his Gospel. The darkness remains -- and will remain -- in the world as long as there are human beings to inhabit the world. But the light that came -- that was and is and ever will be -- WILL overcome the darkness, in God's good time.

It IS Christmas. It IS a time for celebrations.

Not because by celebrating we can pretend the darkness doesn't exist. But because it is in those very celebrations that the light overcomes the darkness.

When we take time to give, some of the darkness is overcome. When we share the love that God has for us with others -- especially those who feel little of that love in their own lives -- more of the darkness is overcome.

As long as our giving and our sharing comes because of the light that came into the world nearly 2,000 years ago in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus came to show us a new way to live -- in love and out of love. He came to show that God's great plan for us was based not on war and famine and hatred, but on love.

John the Baptist, the great precursor to Jesus the Messiah, explained how that love should work. "He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise," the Baptist told the multitudes who followed him in Luke 3:11. "Do not take advantage of others, be satisfied with what you have, share God's love," he preached in Luke 3:12-14.

Jesus preached the same thing: "Love God completely, and love your neighbors. Give to him who begs from you, and do not refuse him who would borrow from you. ... Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. ... Forgive others their trespasses ... Judge not, that you not be judged." (Matthew 5:42-7:1)

If we want the light to overcome the darkness, if we want to make sure the darkness always is held at bay, we need to do exactly what Jesus commanded us to do. We need to live in love. Not by being anxious for our lives, but by caring for others while trusting that God, who knows what we need, will take care of us.

In this season of Christmas, when the darkness keeps threatening us, we can make a difference. We can share the light of Christ -- the love of Christ -- with those who are wrapped in darkness.

And then we truly will have something to celebrate.

(The Rev. Lauren R. Stanley, a former assistant news editor for the Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service, is a deacon at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Burke, Va. Readers may write to Stanley care of Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service, 790 National Press Building, Washington, D.C., 20045.)

(c) 1997, Knight-Ridder/Tribune Information Services.