I remember it was about a couple months after we first moved to Sacramento. Cindy and Eric had come after school let out in New Jersey so it was sometime in mid-June. I forget now where we had been, but we came home by interstate from a different direction than we normally would have taken. Coming to a stop at the top of the off-ramp, prior to turning left, I saw the first of the many, many homeless I would see in the Sacramento area. I was moved to tears when I saw his sign which read "veteran, will work for food. "We did not have food in the car but a contribution was made even though cars were backing up behind me. I remember how angry I was that it had come to this, in the United States, in California, that there were people able to work, willing to work, but for whatever reason, unable to get or perhaps to hold a job. It did not take too long to realize that in California, because of budget cutbacks, because of "prop 13," a California initiative holding the line on property taxes for those who were long-time homeowners in that state, people like the veteran I saw, fell through the gaps. It did not take too long before a no-panhandling law was passed in the Sacramento area, and in some respects matters got worse. They got better from the standpoint that those who panhandle for money to buy alcohol and drugs had a much harder time doing so, but those who were sincere in their need for food, shelter, and clothing, suffered as a result. Members from the church Cindy and I belonged to volunteered at an organization called Loaves and Fishes and I began to get quite involved there.

Now I forget where it was, but it was during the Christmas season, driving to one of my offices, getting off one of the interstates in an area frequented by homeless men and women, I saw a Christmas tree. It was not much of a Christmas tree, certainly not decorated like those in front of homes all through the area; I would not have even known it was a Christmas tree had it not had decorations in the shape of the classic Christmas tree. The decorations were not lights or even bulbs, seems to me they were more like pop can pull-tabs, lids from cans, and so on, because it reflected in the sunlight as I was getting off on a side street. I remember smiling at the sight of it, but feeling somewhat sad as well. It wasn't until later that I realized that yes indeed, the light does shine in the darkness and the darkness of this world, the darkness that people live in, regardless of straightened circumstances, cannot overcome it.

In our Gospel today, John starts with sheer poetry, not only in English, but also in the original Greek, the way the first few sentences are constructed, and in what is expressed. These verses are, in effect, John's nativity story. He does not talk about shepherds, angels, and a young virgin mother, Herod, or even wise men. Instead, he starts from the beginning, the very beginning. He is echoing the book of Genesis where we read that "In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light." (NRSV)

John's first five verses read as follows; "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. 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." In other words, God does not ignore the darkness, but instead shines through it and those who live in darkness, all of us, have seen a great light, and that light is the Word became flesh who dwelt among us.

It is ironic that for the world, advertising for the Christmas season began before Thanksgiving and went into full swing the Friday after Thanksgiving. Since then, and even including now with the after holiday sales, shopping has been going at a great clip. This is of course, a good thing, from the standpoint of those whose jobs, whose livelihoods, are dependent upon good sales this time of year. But for those in the darkness, perhaps because of the death of a loved one this Christmas season or in past seasons, or at all during the past year, who have suffered health problems or job losses, the emphasis on gift giving and receiving, fun and frivolity, only seems to add to the darkness, to the pain of loss.

This is why this Gospel is so important at this time of year, because John reminds us that Christmas is much more than Christmas shopping and gifts, carols and pageantry. Christmas is a concrete demonstration of God's love for humanity. It is Christmas that intercedes for us in the darkness, when the light of the Christ child shines forth for all to see, a light that shines brighter than the sun from God's Son, the Word became flesh. And so on the first Sunday of this New Year, let us be renewed in Christ Jesus, as we let Christ renew the light that shines through us, as individuals and as a congregation. Let Christ's light shine through us in the coming year, decade, and half-century, that all who see it may know us for what we are, and for whose we are.

AMEN