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(As you do your Christmas shopping, you might consider my novel, A Brothers Peace, published in 2022, as a gift. It’s about family, addiction, and the power of unconditional love. I was recently invited to submit it in the Book Excellence Ward competition. Not sure the value of such awards, but it does suggest someone other than family and friends thought it was a good read. I think you will, too.)

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The universal message of the Christmas season captures the heart of most people, maybe everyone, that light has come into the world and darkness has not overcome it, quenched it, put it out (John 1:5).

When astronaut Scott Kelly first saw the earth from outer space he described being awe struck in this way: “As the sun came up I was absolutely blown away by how incredibly beautiful our planet Earth is. Absolutely breathtaking. Like someone took the most brilliant blue paint and painted a mural right in front of my eyes. I knew right then and there that I would never, ever see anything as beautiful as planet Earth again.”

The sun camp up, light appeared in darkness, and from outer space he saw the most beautiful sight he had ever seen, the earth and its fullness thereof, or, for people of faith, the incredible creation of God.

That is what light does, it allows us to see the beauty of one world, one people, bound and bonded together as God intended us to be. That is what the light of Christmas is all about.

We add words to define that light, such as joy, hope, love, laughter, gifts, merriment, but it’s the light in darkness that allows us to see all of it.

But it’s not easy to focus on the light this year as our nation is now living under the cloud of a soon-to-be Trump presidency again, more of a darkness than a cloud.

He’s so unfit and unqualified for the job that it seems unbelievable that he’s still in the picture, but here we are nonetheless, and I am determined not to let this very small man’s shadow to impose itself on the light and spirit of another Christmas, and so should all of us.

Originally, celebrating the birth of Jesus that began in the 4th century eventually became an Empire wide Christian festival under the Emperor Constantine who converted to Christianity as an alternative to the non-Christian celebrations of the winter solstice and the beginning of longer days with more light than darkness.

The celebration of light is the focus of Christmas always, but especially this year, not in spite of the pall Trump’s election has cast over the nation, but precisely because of it.

Light shining in darkness! How appropriate, even as Trump keeps seeded his cloud of gloom and doom with elves of darkness he calls cabinet picks and appointments.

It’s like he’s trying to make the whole world believe America has gone completely dark, but the Christmas season still shines sufficient light that exposes the lie that is.

That’s because Christmas is not about vengeance, not about selfishness, not about pettiness, not about grifting, not about demonizing others, not about separating families trying to find a better life.

No, the light of this season is about the power of giving thanks for one another, for the gift of life itself regardless of how much of a struggle it may be, for the joy of love, for the power of generosity.

Trump’s darkness will overcome that light only if I – we – allow it. And we have the power to ensure that doesn’t happen.

It’s a travesty that any of us has to work so hard, indeed, have to engage in an emotional fight, to ensure that the light of Christmas shines in Trumpian darkness.

The fact that some of the people in the Christian community have chosen to walk in that darkness rather than Christmas light is especially painful to watch as they join all the others who are being duped into believing Trump’s darkness is actually light and genuine light is darkness.

There is a lot of darkness right now over America, to be sure, but there is also sufficient light to dispel it as long as those of us who still believe in the ideals that gave birth to this great experiment refuse to let the purveyors of darkness control us.

We thought we had quenched Trumpian darkness in 2020, but darkness is harder to overcome than we thought. I suppose we didn’t pay as much attention to history as we should have.

From the time Herod the Great ruled Judea when Jesus was born to his son, Herod Antipas, on the throne when Jesus was killed, to every despot ruler throughout history down to this very day, darkness has persisted in trying to extinguish light.

That it is happening in our own time in history is a stark reminder that even as light comes into the world in every generation, there will always be people who prefer to live in darkness (John 3:19).

Despite that reality, though, we cannot give up believing that there are more Americans who still prefer the light of our nation’s ideals to Trumpian darkness.

And while we may never eliminate Trumpian darkness from our midst, the light of Christmas that has continued to shine in spite of all kinds of darkness through the centuries assures us that we can and eventually will take away its power to threaten the light again.