Connecting Christmas Eve Candles and Evil

(Ed. note: I have started and deleted this column at least 10 times today, because many times I think I am truly at a loss about how to approach again the events of last Friday, and our reactions thereto.)

This week's message, I think, finds it's roots in the first five verses of John's gospel: 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

There are many good and decent people who are wrestling with how to proceed, and there are some conversations that need to be had concerning moral, political, social, and economic realities in our life today, but, as the church, we have to constantly remind ourselves of the words of John - "...and the darkness did not overcome it."

This truth, my friends, is the calming reassurance that we must not only hear, but embody and repeat through the lives we lead - "...and the darkness did not overcome it." 

Presidents, congressmen, senators, governors, school boards, parents, and others will, in the days, weeks, and months to come, propose and even enact new rules and regulations designed to make sure these things can never happen again. But, dear friends, the reality is this: Jesus Christ himself, as a newborn, had a price placed on his head, and untold numbers of children under the age of two were put to death as a result of the contract Herod place on the Christ child.

Christ lived not only with a contract out on his life from the day he was born, but he had one of his own betray him, was offered a get out of jail free card which was rejected by his own people who responded with cries of "Crucify Him!," was nailed to the cross like a common criminal (for the fact is, if Jesus' death sentence were handed down today instead of crosses we would have syringes adorning our churches and our jewelry), beaten to a pulp and left to die in front of his own mother, and yet...

"...the darkness did not overcome it." 

May we never lose our ability to grieve, mourn, and be surprised at the work of evil in the world, for evil has been at work since the days of Adam and Eve.

We will hold candles high on Christmas Eve, representing the light of Christ that comes in the world through the one who appeared in the manger.

As you hold that candle in your hand, may you keep in mind the following:

"...and the darkness did not overcome it."

Grace and Peace,

Lamar