News and Views

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. 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 overtake it.  ~ John 1:1-5

Beloved,

As we gather in this sacred season, let us pause and reflect on a profound truth: The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

This verse from John’s Gospel is not just a theological assertion; it is a foundational and sacred invitation — an invitation to stand with certainty upon the mystery of the Divine Light that continues to break through our fractured world.

In the Christian tradition, we often speak of Jesus as the "Light of the world," but there is deeper wisdom hidden in these words. The Light is not simply a force that seeks to vanquish the darkness, as we often imagine, but one that utterly transforms it. The Light shines within the very places where we feel most vulnerable, most lost, most broken. It is in the fear and loneliness of our darkness — our confusion, our doubts, our pain — that the true light of God does its most powerful and penetrating work.

This light is not a superficial brightness that temporarily brightens our path. Rather, it is a quiet, persistent presence that perpetually illuminates, heals, and empowers. It is a light that does not overcome the darkness by force, but by the gentle yet unyielding truth of God’s love — God’s unconditional, unyielding, unfathomable and unspeakable love. The darkness may seem overwhelming at times, whether it is the suffering of the world or the darkness we experience in our own hearts. But may we hold fast to this resounding truth – the truth that John proclaims – darkness cannot overcome the Light. It can never extinguish the divine presence that holds all things together. The Light will always prevail. The Light will always permeate every space. The Light will always come.

This is not a light that seeks to escape the darkness, but rather to transform it from within. This is the radical nature of the Gospel: that God comes into the very depths of human experience — into the darkness of our fears and failings —and there, God offers us a new vision, a new possibility, and new way of interpreting the world and a new way of being. Because of this truth, we do not ever have to shrink or shudder or succumb to the trials and hardships of our lives. Why? Because the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.

As followers of Jesus, we are called to reflect this light. We are not called to be removed from the darkness, nor to resist it with our own power, but to be bearers of the Light that has already been shown in the world. We do this not by arguing with the darkness, but by holding the space for the transforming love that is found in the center of it.

I have been in the presence of so many brothers and sisters in pain right now. Some are sad; some are tired; some are experiencing a crisis of faith because of the state of the world or the burdens they are shouldering in their personal lives. Some are experiencing what the mystic Saint John of the Cross described as “a dark night of the soul.” While we often pray as Christ prayed that our cup of suffering would be removed from us, sometimes the only way out is through. Sometimes we must walk through the darkness. But thanks be to God, that darkness does not have the final word. The darkness cannot conquer the light. The darkness has no lasting power. The darkness cannot consume us. And so, we are invited to trust in this divine paradox: that in the deepest, darkest moments of our lives, the light is already present, gently shining through, patiently transforming, never giving up on us and working for shalom.

There have been times in my life when the darkness hung as a thick fog, obscuring my view and causing me to doubt whether I was following God’s path or one of my own making. In the depths of that muck, I learned to hum the gospel tune, The Storm is Passing Over. I hummed it until I found the strength to sing it with confidence. And I sang it until the light scattered the darkness. The opening stanza proclaims:

Courage, my soul, and let us journey on.
Tho’ the night is dark, and I am far from home.
Thanks be to God; the morning light appears.
The storm is passing over, the storm is passing over,
The storm is passing over, hallelujah!

 Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
The storm is passing over, hallelujah! 

As we move forward into the future, may we walk as people who carry the light, not as those who triumph over darkness by force, but as those who carry the wisdom of a love that transforms everything it touches and will not let us go. In the words of our Gospel: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” This is God’s fulfillment of the promise made to the prophets. The storm is passing over, hallelujah! This is the love that came down at Christmas.

Merry Christmas,

Bishop LaTrelle Miller Easterling
Baltimore-Washington and Peninsula-Delaware Area
The United Methodist Church