“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” When we begin our sermon series on John, that will be one of the first verses we read. “Light” is one of John’s favorite themes, and it pops up throughout his Gospel. It’s also one of the reasons I love the Christmas season. It’s all about light in darkness. Christmas takes place during the darkest time of the year, and during that time we light up our homes, internally and externally, with decorative lights. We will worship on Sunday evening with a candlelight service, with that striking image of light in darkness. It all centers, of course, on Jesus Christ who is the light in the darkness. We’ll talk about it on Sunday as we examine Galatians 4:4-5, that God chose the right time for the light to come – when the fulness of time had come. He chose a time when His people were in darkness, and needed a light to shine (see Isaiah 9:2). As we have wrapped up 1 Peter, we have seen that the darkness has not ended – sin and death and evil still remain. But the light is shining, and has overcome, so we have hope. My prayer this Christmas season for all of us is that we would clearly see the light in Jesus Christ. That through faith in Him, we would be absolutely resolute that there is great joy and excitement and wonder and a glorious future for us. The world can be a gloomy place. At times a wicked place. But we have the light of holiness and joy in Jesus the Son. And my prayer for us is that we would find times and moments to recognize this great truth – that God’s light is shining and winning.