This Day: Pierced by light
For as long as light, life and peace born in this season of promise is contingent upon the chance and churning of external circumstance, we will continue to miss the mark because the lasting ‘glory of God’ is born as the unfeigned innocence of messy new life roused in the stall of each of our hearts.
An angel announces to terrified shepherds, “To you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour… ” (See full text from Luke below) Two small and seemingly insignificant words in this sentence bear repeating…. this day. The people of Israel waited a long time for ‘this day,’ the day the Saviour, the Messiah would come to free them from oppression and restore them to their homes. We too have waited a long time for ‘this day,’ the day when darkness is pierced by light, the day when the messy and difficult things of life are no more.
‘This day’ is the day the unfeigned innocence of new life stuns the arrogant and silences the boastful. The glory of God is here… ‘this day’. And so, with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven we join Luke’s angelic multitude praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among humanity.”
But wait. Have you not heard the news ‘this day?’ One in eight US households struggle with food insecurity? Have you not heard the news, more than 653,000 people experience homelessness in the U.S. ‘this day?’ Have you not heard the news ‘this day,’ life expectancy at birth in the U.S. fell by 2.4 years between 2019–2021 from 78.8 to 76.4 years? Have you not heard the news, there are 32 ongoing armed conflicts or wars in the world ‘this day?’ **
Is it the angel Pollyanna singing, ”Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” ‘this day?’
Is the prophet First Isaiah mistaken when he declares, “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?” (Isaiah 9.2)
I want to offer an unequivocal NO! The angel and the prophet are spot on. What is wrong is where we are looking for the light piercing the darkness and how we expect to experience peace, ‘this day.’
For as long as we believe light, life and peace born in this season of promise is contingent upon the chance and churning of external circumstance, we will continue to miss the mark because the lasting ‘glory of God’ arrives as the unfeigned innocence of messy new life roused in the stall of each of our hearts.
Born amidst the dirt and dung of donkeys while in exile from his home, the light that we call Jesus, and claim as Christ illumining our hearts, pierces our dire darkness yet, none of the dread external circumstance is changed. That day. ‘This day.’
For as long as we await a rhapsodic intervention, a singular armageddon breaking in to revolutionize the wavering wants and wiles of this world, we will fail to see, savor and be transformed in the light.
The psalmist sees the light. ‘This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118.24) The beauty of ‘this day,’ Christmas day, is not that it is new, but that we are being made new. The glory of ‘this day’ is not that it changes life’s external circumstance, but that we are being changed, from the inside out.
Many of us are exhausted. We have been living life as if we are people in exile; lost, wandering and wondering when we are going to get to some happy material or spiritual destination. We can no longer bear to set our minds and hearts on a distant date. Life is not about what is missing. Life is not about waiting for some utopian ideal. Life is about ‘this day,” full of peace and full of glory.
Right here, right now, ‘this day,’ in the midst of wars and rumors of wars, in the pangs of hunger and homelessness, in the face of dwindling life expectancy, right here, right now, ‘this day’ the angel speaks to us in words that are as relevant as they were two thousand years ago,
“Do not be afraid; for see — I am bringing you good news of great joy for all people.” The light that pierces the heart of darkness is here, ‘this day.’ We do not have to wait until we find the perfect place to live, give birth and raise our children. We do not have to wait until our cupboards are well stocked, disease and suffering is wiped away and all weapons of war have been retired because, ‘This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118.24) ‘This day.’
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Luke 2:1–14 In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see — I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/27/1-in-8-us-households-struggle-with-hunger-food-insecurity-usda.html
https://www.kff.org/slideshow/life-expectancy-in-the-u-s-and-how-it-compares-to-other-countries-slideshow/#:~:text=U.S. life expectancy at birth,years — from 82.6 to 82.3.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-currently-at-war
