How amazed I was when I first realized that this John scripture meant that Jesus was with God in heaven from the very beginning of time. Let me rephrase that: Jesus helped God create everything; they did it together as one…as three since the wind was present, too, as told in the Genesis scripture. I had to go back to Genesis from John and reread the first chapter. There I discovered that the light mentioned in John was created first…light was created, and it was good and separated from darkness. Then, in John, it’s finally time for the light to come into the world and darkness cannot overshadow it. I love the way John does not tell you everything but makes you figure it out for yourself…you know, read between the lines. Subtly telling us in a very poetic way that Jesus is the light of the world, created in the very beginning for us, and given in love to overcome the darkness. Contemplating these ideas made me remember the new setting of “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”. It is number 127 in our hymnbook, “Hark the Herald Angels Sing/Jesus, the Light of the World”. I love this hymn because it is joyously proclaiming that the birth of Jesus brings light to the world. It is written in a jazz Gospel African American style. The music makes you want to dance and sing loudly, particularly when Landon Hammett plays his saxophone as accompaniment. And dance and sing loudly we should, knowing that Jesus is the light of the world, and we are celebrating his birth! | 
