The Light
Having spent my childhood in a place closer to the equator, the darkness of winter always gets me. The days grow shorter and shorter, and colder and colder. This happens every year without fail, but still after seven years in Belgium I am annually surprised. In the midst of this, though, we come to Advent and eventually to Christmas, seasons of light and hope.
For us in the Northern hemisphere, the
symbols of light in all the stories we hear throughout this time become even
more poignant: the star shining in the sky, the glory of the angels, and the
beginning of John’s Gospel! The Light of the World is born at Christmas, and
throughout Advent we are preparing to witness that Light and we are expecting
for that Light to return as Lord and King. Light for us is inextricably linked
to hope.
We don’t have to lose daylight to
understand that the human condition is one in which darkness is present and at
times overpoweringly so. The darkness that the Light of the World displays is
so much deeper than daylight returning. That Light is the light of life, the
light of hope, the light of God’s love and grace.
As Jeremiah reminds us and as Luke
warns, the days are coming. Days when God’s glory will be revealed in
full, when Light bursts into the world. At this time, things will change -- all
darkness will be defeated. Are we getting ready for this? Are we expecting it?
Are we hoping for it? Are we living into light and love?
May this Advent we live more and more
into the Light. May we bear witness to the one who is the Light of the World,
whose days are coming. May we be filled with light and hope and love. Amen.
Jeremy
Heuslein
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