There is a prayer which offers, “Almighty God, you have poured on us the new light of your incarnate word...” And that is what we all celebrated this past Wednesday, Christmas Day. That is what it was all about. 

We can talk about the shepherds, because they were there. We can speak of the stable and the manger, the animals, even talk of the Wise men, although that happens next week. We can mention all of these things that are recounted in the Bible, in Matthews Gospel; but what really happened was, a new light shown down on the face of God’s earth. 

It was a light as bright as God’s love for us, a light of freedom from the laws of old that trapped us. The light included us who were not Hebrew, forgave us and accepted us as we were, and loved us where we stood. It was the light on the face of Mary’s infant, the Baby Jesus, that made the light of the natal star look dim.

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children... So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.” 

This is the gift of understanding waiting for you to accept and cherish; waiting for you to see in the light of this day and this time. It was expressed when John began his recounting of the life of Jesus in the gospel he wrote, many years after the other three, Matthew, Mark and Luke. His gospel was a keen retrospective, written by a man who had come into the spirituality of the birth of Jesus, and what it meant to all of the future generations of believers.

“What has come into being was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” John wrote. And then he explained: “He was in the world ... yet the world did not know him... He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.”

And then, importantly to us today he wrote: But all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.

We have that power. We, living in the light of Jesus birth, and accepting him as God’s gift to us, can become Children of God. Let that light shine in your heart.

“And the word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, The glory of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. AMEN.

The Rev. George O. Martin is an Ordained Deacon at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 17th and Adams, Great Bend. Send email to georgeom@hbcomm.net.