On November 27, all 27 Times Square billboards went dark for the first time, then lit up with the Birth of Jesus Christ.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints treated onlookers at New York City’s Times Square with a Nativity display across its billboards.

The event occurred on November 27 as the LDS launched its annual Light the World initiative.

“As we start hoping there will be greater light in the world, we invite all to light the world,” Area Seventy Elder David Buckner told Church Newsroom. “Today, we start that as a process of hope, promise, and joy that the world so desperately needs.”

John 8:12, where Jesus says, “ I am the light of the world.”

“Times Square is perhaps the brightest place on the face of the earth,” Monsignor Kevin Sullivan of Catholic Charities and the Archdiocese of New York told Church Newsroom.

“Lighting the world is needed now more than ever. Catholic Charities is proud to partner with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other organizations who are bringing light to what is a very dark world.”