"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," wrote Charles Dickens in a Tale of Two Cities. We also live in that kind of time where there is dismal darkness and all the news seems bad. But the message of Christmas is that that the Good News always dispels the bad news like light dispels the darkness. The prophet Isaiah wrote, "The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them" (Isa. 9:2).