Monday 24 December 2018

Light in the Darkness (John 1:1-5)


(Meditation for Gayton Road Christian Church's Christmas Eve Service, 2018)



The Darkness of Not Knowing

Some people leave the bathroom door ajar, enough that a little light escapes.  Others plug a nightlight into the wall.  When I was little, we would leave the light on in the hallway.  And I would leave my door open and sleep on my side facing the light.

My parents explained me to once that the darkness wasn’t bad.  It was just a condition.  Darkness meant not seeing, not knowing.  But not knowing was scary to me.  So I continued to sleep on my side facing the hallway, where I could see the light.

Sometimes the light was not enough.  When I awoke from a bad dream, the gentle glow of the hallway did not calm me.  Being able to see my surroundings did not put my mind to rest.  Because it still felt dark.  Not outside me, but inside me.  Deep within, where the bad dream lingered, it was still dark.  I couldn’t see, I didn’t know.  I didn’t know for sure if I was safe, whether in the days to come I would be hurt or not, whether tomorrow would bring good things or bad.

A Story of Light and Dark

All three Christmas stories in the gospels talk about light in the darkness.  The angels shimmering in the dusk.  The star sparkling before the magi in the night sky.  The light of the world that shines in the darkness.

Each story summons up the simple contrast that we have known since our earliest memories.  Light and dark.  It is a powerful image, one that uses the darkness outside to point to the darkness inside.  For it was two thousand years ago as it is today: inside, there is much that we can’t see, that we don’t know.  In the darkness of illness, we don’t know what will make things better.  In the darkness of loss, we don’t know how we will go on.  In the darkness of conflict, we don’t know exactly what’s wrong, or how things could be made right.

Sometimes we turn the story of light and dark into a battle, so that light is good and dark is bad.  But I wonder if that’s what’s happening in the Christmas story.  Because there’s no mention of the darkness being defeated or overcome.  The light does not remove the darkness entirely.  It simply shines in the darkness.

The Light of Love

When I awoke from a bad dream and the hallway light was not enough for me, I walked down the hallway, pushed open my parents’ door, and woke up them up.  One of them would walk back with me to my room and sit on the side of my bed.  And that was stronger than all the light in the world.

If I’m being honest, there was still darkness inside.  There were things that I didn’t know, like what tomorrow would bring, or whether my worries would come true, or what challenge would confront me next. 

But how else can I say it?  The light now was enough.  Not the hallway light.  But my parents’ love. 

The Love of God

We all live in darkness.  It’s not bad.  It’s just the condition.  It just means there are things we can’t see, things we don’t know.

But how else can I say it?  The light now is enough.  Not the light of the stars or the angels.  But the love of God—if you would believe it—here by our side.


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