The Second Sunday after Christmas, January 4, 2026

As we begin the New Year, what are we looking toward? From one perspective, New Year’s is just another day on the calendar. Yet, the New Year symbolizes the possibility of new beginnings. Letting go of the old, to embrace the new. And, for many of us, we want to leave behind much of the old year: relationally, health wise, financially, and – the elephant in the room – politically. Over the past year, the US has experienced the perfect storm of chaotic and destructive politics: cruelty has become virtuous and empathy a vice as politically leaders intentionally seek to dismantle the social safety net, undermine gains in civil and human rights, harm people just because they can, and nullify years of environmental protection. With little or no legal or intellectual authority and acuity, political and religious leaders have promoted authoritarianism, retribution, and uniformity of thought and action. Scorched earth politics has joined scorched earth religion to frighten people into compliance, and it has worked, at least among Republicans and hell-anxious Christians. The soul of the nation is in jeopardy, and even the most optimistic of us imagine a long recovery under the best of circumstances. We wonder if we have gone beyond the point of no return environmentally as well as a democracy.
We gain wisdom, albeit little consolation, in recognizing that virtually all of scripture was written in challenging times, characterized by a mixture of hope and fear looking toward what lies ahead. Even the passages on rejoicing and renewal highlighted in the First Testament writings occur in the context of national disaster and disarray.
The prophet Jeremiah, speaking for God, proclaims that the Holy One will turn their mourning into joy. Recalling the days of decimation, and their cries of lamentation, the people dance now dance with joy at the positive future that lies ahead for the nation. In the spirit of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s campaign song, “Happy Days are here again!” The nation is in recovery and hope is on the horizon. The people’s hope is not solely the result of their efforts, but the embodiment of divine providence restoring the moral and spiritual arcs of history. God’s restorative grace has opened the door to a renewed future.
Psalm 147 offers a hymn of praise at God’s restoration of the nation. God once more shines the divine face on the nation, and the people are radiant with joy. When we read the words of Jeremiah 31 and Psalm 147, most of us respond, “if only it was that easy for our nation to be restored, for justice to be done, and for celebration and joy – and not anxiety and fear – to ring out across our nation. If only God would get in the game and tip the scales of history toward justice and equality.” We don’t expect God to intervene to overthrow the forces of destruction and division, nor do we believe that God dominates the historical and political process. While God is not aloof, and unconcerned, such unilateral divine transformation is impossible for us apart from our own efforts.
The reading from Ephesians speaks of God lavishing grace and knowledge on those God has “chosen.” While Paul is clearly speaking about the experience of new believers, is divine election restricted to believers with unbelievers left in the darkness of unforgiven sin and retribution? To salvation minimalists, Paul suggests that God’s salvation is intended for everyone. Joyfully, the apostle Paul proclaims, God’s plan is “in the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” Despite the darkness of our times, God will have the final word, and it is the healing of creation in its totality, embracing traumatized undocumented residents as well as heartless ICE agents, social activists and prevaricating politicians, and – I believe – the non-human as well as the human worlds.
John’s Prologue describes the cosmology of grace in which the Infinite becomes intimate, the Word is made fresh, and light pierces the darkness of our troubled times. The apparently abstract metaphysics of John’s Gospel is grounded in a mystical and personal vision. The Word is made flesh not in abstract irrelevance but in the concreteness of our daily lives. The light shines illuminating the darkness of our personal lives as well as the chaos of our social order. The preference for darkness – and not all darkness is bad! – is the stuff of our morning newsreels as well as the challenges we face in our families and our own internal conflicts.
John’s Prologue provides hope in troubled times and healing and purpose for those who feel lost. God’s light is everywhere. The Word and Wisdom of God ground every moment of experience. In the language of process-relational theology, God’s aim at beauty and wholeness, order and transformation, touches every moment of experience. More that that, the true light present in Christ enlightens everyone – eventually, the passage promises – and all will glimpse the glory of God, despite their present waywardness.
The light shines in the darkness and to our surprise and amazement, the darkness cannot defeat it. Further, when we open to the light, we receive the power to become God’s beloved and illumined children. Yet, what does it mean to “believe in the Word’s (Christ’s) name” and how does that believe empower us? Surely, John meant much more than a few words muttered at an altar call, a transaction with God ensuring our salvation and, conversely, deliverance from hell. I believe that “believing in God’s name” is a commitment to join the Word and Wisdom of God in a type of oneness of Spirit, to make God’s Embodied and Inspired Word the heart of our conscious experience, as near as our next breath in such a way that it transforms our cells and our soul. Belief is the Divine Placebo that energizes our cells and enlightens our spirit, and opens us to a deeper identity in which the moment-by-moment vision (aim) of God orients our encounter with the world and interpretation of the events of our lives.
This power of divine paternity-maternity gives us “grace upon grace,” but not, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer cautions, “cheap grace.” Freely given from the heart of God, the grace of being God’s child challenges us to “let our light shine” and to become guiding lights in a world whose leaders and communities often choose darkness.
John’s Gospel offers a tremendous vision of hope in troubled times: there is darkness and often evil is the result of the choices of individuals and political leaders, but as the African American Spiritual proclaims, “trouble don’t last forever.” As poet Theodore Roethke (1908-1993), who suffered from depression, testified “in a dark time, the eye begins to see.” The poet concludes the poem:
The mind enters itself, and God the mind,
And one is One, free in the tearing wind.
Today’s scriptures encourage activity, not passivity; agency and not dependence. God’s prevenient, all-encompassing prior, grace creates the way forward to a world of rejoicing and recovery, but we must follow the path and hew our own way through wilderness times. Divine call empowers our agency and response. God’s enlightenment is always available to everyone and yet we must call upon it and then act as light bearers in accordance with it. “Ask, seek, and knock. God show me the way to holy and loving power.” The door is open, and we are invited to walk through and keep walking, bringing others along with us, to life in all its abundance.

Bruce Epperly is Theologian in Residence at Westmoreland Congregational United Church of Christ, Bethesda, MD and a professor in theology and spirituality at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington DC. He is the author of over eighty books, including Jesus: Mystic, Healer, and Prophet; Creation Sings: Forty Days of Spiritual Wisdom from the Non-Human World; Messy Incarnation: Meditations on Christ in Process; and Homegrown Mystics: Restoring Our Nation with the Healing Wisdom of America’s Visionaries. His latest books are Creation Sings: Forty Days of Spiritual Wisdom from the Non-human World and Three Wise Wisdom: The Twelve Days of Christmas with Mary, Elizabeth, and Anna (volume seven in “The Twelve Days of Christmas” series along with his upcoming Lenten devotional, Just a Little Walk with Jesus: A Spiritual Saunter with Mark’s Gospel. He can be reached at www.brucepperly.com.