Brief synopsis of the readings: We begin with Isaiah in his own voice. He expresses gratitude that God anointed him to “bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners.” Finally “As the earth brings forth its plants, and a garden makes its growth spring up, so will the Lord God make justice and praise spring up before all the nations.” In John’s Gospel we read again about John the Baptist. But here John is questioned by the religious leaders. He tells them he is not the Christ, not Elijah and not a prophet. Again he tells them that he proclaims one who is to come who is greater.

There is something human about craving light over darkness. This past week I once again hung Christmas lights around the outside of our house while Nancy decorated our pre-lit tree. We Christians are hardly the only ones seeking light. As I write this my Jewish neighbors light menorahs in their windows and soon our pagan and wiccan neighbors will celebrate Saturnalia. There are other celebrations but you get the point.

Ancient civilizations have, from our earliest days, paid close attention to the sun, moon and stars. They knew when the days were shorter and when they would start getting longer. And they celebrated the end of shorter days, not because they were surprised but because the need to seek and find light makes up the core of who we are. They celebrated light in the worst of the darkness.

And as Christians we see God as that light, and the birth of Jesus as the entrance of that Godly light into our darkness. Darkness is a funny thing: darkness isn’t true darkness unless it pervades everything. Unlike light there is no “beam of darkness” and even the light of a single candle can dispel darkness. A quick glance at the night sky graces us with the light of stars took millions of years to reach us. And so in the battle of light vs. darkness light always has the advantage.

But we also see God as the source of power and the idea of turning light into power happens on the rooftops of many of us. The singer Amy Grant, on one of her Christmas albums, sings about her “Grown Up Christmas List.” She describes how, as a child, she asked for wrapped gifts under the tree but now she asks for other things:

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end

I suspect that this song’s writers had at least some awareness of our first reading as hearts can be both broken and torn apart. And it makes an important point. When it comes to the longer days we await we have no ability to change the timetable. But Isaiah and John the Baptist remind us that we can change the world in other ways.

These days it seems that when we turn on the news we are surrounded by wars with all their suffering and death. As we struggle with friends and coworkers over how we should feel and which side we’re on, many of us feel paralyzed or even despondent. We all wish that wars would never start but that seems so far away. We simply don’t have the power to make that happen.

But we do still have power. When we wish that no more lives be torn apart, when Isaiah speaks of healing the brokenhearted, there is something we can do. It may seem small but perhaps the smallness is part of the point. Broken hearts never feel small when it happens to us and even the smallest of kindnesses can make all the difference.

Several years ago I volunteered at a church youth group and it was my introduction into the world of youth ministry. One of the girls in the group was crazy about one of the boys and her 16th birthday was coming up. She hoped they would spend the day together but as only a 16 year old boy can do, a few days before her birthday he thoughtlessly told her that a girl he really liked was coming into town. She probably read too much into their friendship but at the time she was simply brokenhearted. I got a call from the youth minister and we made certain she was not alone for her birthday. I took her for a long lunch and drive by the ocean and the youth minister took her to dinner. It wasn’t much but it healed a broken heart.

So often we think about grand, life changing gestures. We hear about someone who donates bone marrow for a child with leukemia or a large corporation paying for an accessible home for a wounded veteran and we think healing has to be that large. Instead let’s look at having the awareness and thoughtfulness it takes to make a difference.

Healing lives that have been torn apart or hearts that have been broken can often happen just by listening. Years ago I began to hear the term “active listening” as a way of being more deliberate in paying attention to another person. That’s a shame because all listening should be active but so often our attention is distracted by screens or other voices.

Truth is we can all listen. So often I hear well meaning people who listen to pain and suffering and trying to fix it. Someone grieving the loss of a loved one doesn’t need to hear that “God has a plan” or “God hears all prayers but sometimes the answer is no.” Brokenhearted people simply need to know they’re not alone.

And I know this is un-American but those around us aren’t entitled to our opinion. When someone tells us about a conflict, family or geo-political, we don’t need to take sides. And if we do have strong personal feelings about the conflict we don’t need to share that. We can point to several instances in the Gospels where someone tries to sway Jesus to their side and where Jesus refused to take the bait.

We’re fast approaching Christmas and these days often heightened awareness of the need for light in our lives. But let us never forget that simply by listening we can heal broken hearts.