In the beginning, according to the Book of Genesis, the world was a wild and disordered place. It was, in other worlds, total darkness. Then God said, “Let there be light” which brought order and calm to the world. But God did not eliminate darkness, he separated darkness from light. Thus, leaving chaos, but putting it in its proper place.

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we are 19 days from the Winter Solstice, the so-called “Shortest day of the year.” Each day, since last June, there has been less and less sunlight. If that were to continue, eventually the world would be plunged back into total darkness. We know, but ancient peoples did not always know, that after December 21^st, the sunlight will gradually increase each day.

Nature itself tells us that darkness cannot completely overwhelm us.

Darkness is a metaphor not only of disorder, but also of sin. Sin is a choice to embrace darkness and reject the light. Rationally speaking, one would be foolish to prefer darkness over light, but we do not live in a totally rational world. People do in fact choose darkness. To go over to the dark side is a motif of our culture, probably best imagined by movies such as Star Wars – the good guys outfitted in white costumes and the bad guys in black. This suggests that there is some great conflict between the forces of good versus the forces of evil.

And we internalize that battle into ourselves as if we too are involved in some cosmic conflict.

To a certain degree that is what we struggle with, but we often give darkness, or sin, too much credit. By blaming outside forces, we remove our personal responsibility and have a convenient excuse. “The devil made me do it” is nonsense and a lack of trust that it was God who made the light. He did not – in the creation story of Genesis – make the darkness.

But people do choose darkness – people often prefer the cover of darkness to commit crimes. No self-respecting burglar would break into a house in broad daylight.

The prophet Isaiah, as we heard in our scripture reading, proclaims that the people who live in darkness have been rescued from perpetual meaninglessness by having seen a great light.

By inference, the birth of Jesus took place at night. One can’t follow a star in the daylight. Dreams come in the nighttime.

All of this comforts us that the darkness of sin – the personal choice for disorder – is ultimately and personally removed by the light, God’s first creation, made human in the birth of God made human.

The church has this sacrament whereby the light of mercy, the satisfaction of forgiveness and the reward of peace is a re-enactment of creation. Whenever we reject sin and return to the light, we are restored to our humanity. We are no longer as it were, wild beasts living afraid and ashamed to have to cover up the light of our true self – children of the light.

In the beginning of the church, filled with the Holy Spirit, the first Christians did not think anyone would reject that new life of light. They were naïve on that point. So, a form of reconciliation developed into a sacrament. Even so, it took some time to understand that all sin can be wiped away. Three sins in particular were considered unforgivable: murder, adultery, and apostasy – that is, leaving the church.

That didn’t last long. It became clear upon reflection, that all sin can be forgiven, even the worst possible ones.

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