Light Shines in the Darkness

Running through our neighborhood this morning I found my thoughts drifting toward the subject of light. I found myself anxiously awaiting December 21st, the Winter's Solstice, when the days will no longer be getting darker but rather bringing a few more moments of light with each one. I've never really been aware of the Winter's Solstice, or cared enough to wait for its arrival, until moving to Portland. Living here I have felt the dimming light of the winter days. I've watched the sun desperately try to peek its head above our next door neighbor's roof as it makes its low arc across the southern window of our house. I've felt the sleepiness that three o'clock brings as though it were almost time to prepare for bed. Running and watching the sun struggle to rise only to stop short of its summer height, I began to feel a physical yearning for light and an excitement that the Solstice was not far away. And then I thought about Christmas, and how appropriate it suddenly seemed that the season of Winter's Solstice, in which the return of light is celebrated, was chosen by the church to remember and celebrate God entering the world in human flesh- light piercing the darkness. In Genesis 1 God pierces "the darkness that was over the face of the deep" with the words "Let there be light." The promise of the coming Savior, the hope of all men, is fulfilled as John records in his Gospel, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made..in Him was life, and the life was the LIGHT of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:1-5). Israel yearned for their Savior. The church now yearns for his return when "night will be no more. They will need no lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light" (Rev. 22:5). We celebrate the Word being made flesh and dwelling among us. Light shining in the darkness. This is our hope.

And for any of you out there looking for Christmas present ideas...a sun lamp might be a nice choice.