Times Square Billboard Takeover Celebrates The Birth Of Christ

New York City’s Times Square was lit up with a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ late last month, and videos of the heartwarming scene have now gone viral on social media.

The video was originally posted by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as part of its Light the World campaign. The Times Square billboard takeover began on November 27.

While people were milling about in Times Square that day, all of the billboards went dark at the same time for several seconds, casting shocking darkness on the constantly bright, neon-lit square — then the billboards began revealing the scene of the nativity as the song “Silent Night” played through the loudspeakers.

The scene began with a single bright star shining on all of the billboards, followed by the words “Silent Night” written in several different languages as the song played in the background. The screens then displayed a few different scenes of the nativity depicting Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus, as well as angels and the journey of the Wise Men. The words “Christ, the Savior is born,” were also shown on the screens.

The final scene showed the entire nativity alongside the Bible verse John 8:12, “I am the Light of the world.”

This billboard takeover was the first step in the Light the World initiative that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been doing for several years, which is conducted in partnership with several other charitable organizations to donate to people in need.

Videos of the billboards began to go viral on Saturday on X, formerly known as Twitter, with many commentators celebrating the initiative and highlighting the Christmas video’s significance.

“This year, for the first time, all 27 billboards of Times Square went dark in NYC, and then lit up with the story of the Birth of Christ,” wrote Navy Intel veteran Jack Posobiec, senior editor at Human Events.

“Times Square, ALL BILLBOARDS SHUT OFF. A Cyberattack? END OF THE WORLD? Nope! For the first time ever, a breathtaking message of Jesus’s birth and love is displayed for Christmas 🙂 Remarkable to see the unexpected joy in people’s faces,” wrote conservative commentator Matt Wallace.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has also been sponsoring vending machines called “Giving Machines” as part of their Light the World Campaign, which allow individuals to donate to purchase food, clothes and other basic necessities for people in need. These machines can be found in 41 different locations across the United States, as well as around the world in countries such as Australia, Mexico and the Philippines.