From Light to Enlightenment - Christmas Day
Author: Pastor Carolyn Hetrick
December 25, 2025
Now on this Christmas Day, maybe in the quiet of the “Day
After” but before the “Not Yet” of today, maybe we can quieten our hearts.
Let’s put aside anxious thoughts and ponder John’s luminous words. And may they
linger long after we put away our lights. Some would say in our homes, leave
those Christmas lights up longer and I get it. We long for light or perhaps are
a bit nostalgic for what the brightness recalls. Let’s take that sentiment and
apply it to God’s word and its power for us in these days to come. In this
lingering, God will still bring enlightenment in God’s word.
Of all the things I have heard the most in these past
weeks was that the world feels heavy. This has been a tumultuous year, full of
upheavals and uncertainties, national, international and for many of us also
profoundly personal ones. What does God’s Word come to say to us? After the
hubbub of “Christmas” will we just fall back into the notion that it is often
difficult to believe that there is much to think, speak, or write about other
than our brokenness?”[1] In a world that has willed itself to proclaim
everything merry and bright, there is a difference in this light. A word exists
to say something to us.
God’s word is indeed forever coming into the world. And
John chooses to say that word bears light. Might we turn our eyes toward
waiting to see the spirit reveal new light? Whenever that happens, we are
celebrating Christmas even in weary or wary times.
John’s word was brought forth in another turbulent and
uncertain time filling shadows with the most gentle light. His poetic language about
the word and the light transports us into the glory of God and God’s plan for
the Word of God. John connects the grand involvement of the Word by whom the
universe was created, and the intimate involvement of this One that is born on
earth as a human. This Word embodies who God says comes- Emmanuel, “God-With-Us.”
A favorite painting of mine is by the Italian artist,
Giorgione from 1505 called the “Adoration of the Shepherds.” The Christ
child is depicted resting on the ground on just a cloth in a hollow of a rock.
No one important or impressive surrounds him. Grounded in creation and our
humanity.
He is simply illuminated by natural light, without
urgency, unforced, close and not demanding. The glow spreads from him to those
who see him.
This is the literal “down-to earth” glory of God, who has
come to be born helpless, right in the midst of both the beauty of creation and
our troubled humanity. Just as in the beginning the Word made life an ongoing
possibility, now we the Word breaks into the human story and makes new life an
ongoing possibility. This One is not just passing through. He comes to dwell,
to stay among us. This is a continual commitment, made while knowing full well that
we are vulnerable and hurting people in a broken world, yet he rests in our
dust. It’s as if the dust from which were formed is re-storied so that our
hopes shine anew beyond our fears.
This One brought words that allowed our stories to be re-imagined.
To restate that our stories, like his, are full of grace and truth. The Word
came to allow is to see truth through the lens of grace even when we fight it.
An old fable tells of a farmer who watched a group of
birds caught in a storm, hurling themselves against a window, looking for
safety. The farmer did all he could to show these little birds that the way to
safety was not through the locked window, but by taking shelter in a warm, lit
barn through an open door. Despite all his attempts he could not reach the
birds. He realized that the birds feared him and so he could not show them the
way. He thought, “if only I could become a bird, then I could tell them don’t
be afraid. Come this way, you’ll be safe here. If only I could speak their
language perhaps they would understand.”
Grace, in Jesus’ coming, reminds us of our truth through
God’s eyes. Not the harsh, brittle or disappointing ways we can see ourselves,
that are sometimes even magnified at this time of year when we want everything
merry and bright. The Word came to bring
us the light and life for which humanity yearns and gives us a sense of
direction we need. We move from light to enlightenment.
In this way John chose to frame Jesus, the living Word,
as both eternal Savior and adored friend born in us again, to shape our lives. To do so, the Word came among us hoping to embody
our world and speak words we could understand so we could believe in God’s
grace and God’s truth, for ourselves, and for the world God so loves.
When our daughters were little and forging the words we
need to express ourselves, they would sometimes become frustrated. In that
frustration, they would yell or throw something or stomp around.
Eventually they learned the words that to not only
express their feelings, but to speak about the world around them in love. While
they were learning this way, we would say to them, “Use your words.” Jesus
often spoke to his followers as little children and tried to help us express
our concerns and speak about the world around us in love. The Word gives us new
words.
Jesus’ words, if we take them in, create a safe place to
dwell for us. Since the very beginning, his words have spoken kindness and
life, open doors and protection. His words show us place where he calls us to
walk in safety. Barbara Brown Taylor writes, “the living words of God heal our
hurts and soften our hearts. They clear our vision and guide our feet. Like a
lifeline strung from the beginning of time to the end, they show us a way
through all the storms of culture, nature and history. They show us the way to
the Word beyond all our words, in whose presence we shall be made eloquent at
last.”[2]
And so we come again to recall the story of light that
comes into darkness. A story that says our small lives, our particular
struggles and our joys are woven into something cast and luminous, to reconnect
us to the great story of God’s love.[3] This light and this Word enlighten us.
Lord, empty us of what we carry that makes no room for
your grace and truth. Strengthen and protect where we are fragile. Bring
comfort where we not at ease. Bring aid to our struggles and birth wisdom and
kindness into these challenging times. Open our eyes to see you for who you
truly are and who truly are- the objects of your love. Shine your light into
the deepest shadows and may the light of your incarnation just keep coming. May
this ever-brightening awareness be for us, enlightenment.
Copyright Rev. Carolyn K. Hetrick, 2026 All rights
reserved. May not be reproduced in whole or in part without written
permission.
Citations
[1] Henri Nouwen, Life of the Beloved, New York: Crossroad, 1992, p. 69.
[2] Barbara Brown Taylor, The Preaching Life, (Canterbury Press, 2013), p. 83
[3] Dana Walsh, “The Art of Flourishing: The Kind of Light You Can Only See in Darkness”
Sermon Text: John 1:1-14
1 In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. 2 He
was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without
him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life
was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness
did not overtake it.
6 There
was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify
to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light,
but he came to testify to the light. 9 The true light, which enlightens
everyone, was coming into the world.
10 He
was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did
not know him. 11 He
came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who
believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or
of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
14 And
the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory
as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
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