“I Saw the Light”

Christmas Eve 2009 Homily

Isaiah 9:2-7

I saw the light; I saw the light.

No more darkness; No more night.

Now I’m so happy; No sorrow in sight.

Praise the Lord; I saw the light.

My hunch is that hearing the pastor singing part of an old Hank Williams song on Christmas Eve night came as a bit of surprise to you. But this night – and tomorrow – celebrate surprises. Shepherds surprised by angels, then further surprised by the message they heard. The Messiah – King of Kings, and Lord of Lords – had been born: to a peasant girl and her husband… in a stable… using a manger, a feeding trough, as a crib.

That was more than surprising; it was shocking. More than that, it was scandalous. Angels simply didn’t appear to mangy, dirty, smelly shepherds, the lowest of the low. Messiahs were not born to peasants, in a stable no less. This was unheard of. It was blasphemy. It was oh so wrong in oh so many ways. But that’s the way it happened. In the words of a good old boy named Gomer Pyle, “Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!”

Only a bit less surprising than a good old boy named Hank Williams writing and singing a song about salvation. What did a drunken, addicted, adulterer know about salvation? Probably not as much as those shepherds – the good old boys of their day - knew about angels. But from somewhere in the darkness of his tortured soul Hank found the words that aptly described meeting Jesus. And even if he never really saw that light about which he sang, in his heart he knew that it existed. He knew that Jesus was real. He knew where to look for his salvation.

He knew God’s truth as it was revealed in Scripture. Like these words from John’s Gospel, “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.” Words that are echoed by Isaiah: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness – on them light has shined.”

Hank probably knew more than he really wanted to about walking in the darkness. And if we’re honest, so do we. We know about the oppressive weight of sin and evil in our lives and in our world. We know about the boots of tramping warriors and the bloody garments they’ve been leaving behind for centuries. We know about doubt, fear, and depression. We know about grief, loss, and pain. The darkness is all around us and even within us.

But a light shines in the darkness. For unto us a child is born. The light of God has come into the world, a light that the darkness cannot overcome. This child is Jesus. This light is the abundant life that he offers to each and every one of us. We must not forget that he does not offer this life abundant from a safe, sanitary, protected vacuum. He offers it as one who walked as God among us, experiencing all that is good and bad about life as a human being. He has known the cruel darkness of the cross. He has walked through hell itself. He has experienced death. And yet, by the power of the Resurrection he lives. The light of God has overcome the darkness.

For those of us who have accepted the abundant life that Jesus offers, this light is a beacon of reassurance, reminding us that God is with us even in the deepest, darkest moments of our lives. For those who have not accepted the abundant life that Jesus offers, that same light shines as God’s promise: of love, mercy, and hope; of forgiveness, redemption, and new beginnings. It is a light that never goes out, and even when we turn away from it, never goes away.

It was shining to be sure in the backseat of that Cadillac where Hank Williams died in his sleep. God loved Hank, just like he loves all of us, with a love that would not let him go. My prayer is that old Hank entered into eternity singing those words he wrote. My hope is that none of us leave this place tonight without those words resounding in our hearts:

I saw the light; I saw the light.

No more darkness; No more night.

Now I’m so happy; No sorrow in sight.

Praise the Lord; I saw the light.

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light… [it] shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” Amen.