In the opening of John’s Gospel, we read that in God’s Word is “the life and light of men. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” This is the great promise of Christmas: that God’s light enters our world and the darkness cannot extinguish it.
Last Sunday, a terrible darkness descended on our city. During Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights, hatred struck at Bondi Beach, claiming fifteen innocent lives and wounding many more. In a season when both Jews and Christians celebrate light and hope, we have been confronted with profound evil.
Yet the message of Christmas remains unchanged. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.” God doesn’t stand at a distance from our suffering. He enters into it. He became one of us so that he might experience it all. The joys and the sorrows, the laughter and the tears, our grief, even death itself.
In the Nicene Creed, which this year celebrated its 1700th anniversary, we affirm that “for us and for our salvation” God “came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became man.” This isn’t just word play. We truly believe that the Creator of the universe became a vulnerable baby. As the Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote, He was “God’s infinity dwindled to infancy.”
This was God’s great profession of love for us. To share in our lives and to offer us a share in His. He took upon Himself our humanity—all of it—that He might heal it and lead us through darkness into His marvellous life-giving light.
As many in our city grieve this Christmas, let us declare boldly: the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Christ, the Prince of Peace is born among us. He walks with us through our darkest valleys. He offers comfort to the grieving, healing to the wounded, hope to the despairing.
May God bless you and your loved ones this Christmas and in the Year of grace 2026.