COMING OF THE LIGHT
‘The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined… For to us a child is born….and he shall establish justice and righteousness from this time forth and forevermore….’ –Isaiah 9
‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…All things were made through him…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
If my recollection serves me accurately, it was a lina ekholm devotional that presented Swedish history concerning this time of year. It seems that the Yuletide was a holiday that celebrated the coming of the light. A time when the days began to grow longer again and the darkness that had come to be so prevalent was gradually overcome. A very good reason to celebrate, indeed. A thoroughly pagan event, it had logs and kings and maybe even homemade rolls and fruit preserves brought to late sleepers by beautiful girls in white dresses wearing halos of candlelight, who went by the name of Santa Lucia. Hmm, ok maybe this is a hazy weaving of various memories of mine combined with decreasing lucidity, short or long term. However at some point, Christians decided to celebrate the birth of Christ at this same time due to the light metaphor expressed in scripture and its corollary physical reality during this season.
I recently moved to Seattle. My arrival brought with it a cold front, complete with blustery snow and ice, rare for these parts. One evening the electrical power to the house was out. There you are in the middle of cooking and playing games with the children and doing the things of living and suddenly you are engulfed in darkness. It is not that darkness is so uncommon. We all experience it at its appropriate time, two seconds before we pull up the covers or zip up the bag. It is a different matter to be in darkness during the activity of doing needful things. People scramble about for torches, children give forth yells, etc…
The event reminded me that I have often wondered about the depth of change within us as people by way of the invention of the artificial light bulb. I think we probably do not well understand the metaphor of light given to us in scripture because for us light is something we control. In a sense we have removed ourselves from the natural setting that mirrors spiritual truth and heightens the depth of our experience.
So what is light? Donald Miller points out in his book ‘Blue Like Jazz’ that light is beyond or outside of space and time. A very God-like characteristic. The Apostle John uses light as a reference or metaphor for truth and righteousness. Light reveals reality. Light sustains life through photosynthesis. Perhaps light’s full characteristics might be discovered by living without it, for a while. By relinquishing control of it. I have this idea of structuring my life to live without artificial light for the advent season (except perhaps for cases in which I must use headlights to drive home from work) in order to more fully understand light as a powerful metaphor and to appreciate it all the greater. A goal of personal spiritual formation.
What a celebration Christmas might be! Peace to you this season as you wait for the coming of the light.
posted by jeb at 2:34 PM
2 Comments:
Hmm. Interesting. I appreciate the motivation for your light experiment and will be curious to hear about the journey and experience.
I came across the following comments of Richard Foster which may or may not relate to your post...
"The 'spiritualities' that have arisen in our day do not answer the question of how we an become good people. Nor do they possess the power to make people good. But genuine Christian Spiritual Formation does answer the question and possess the power to bring it to pass. It is an answer and apower that shines brightly throughout history.
It is no accident that the blazing light and life of Christian faithfulness overcame and upplanted all the 'spiritualities' of Rome in the early centuries of the Christian era..."
Can I try this again...I see in my rush to type that I forgot some perhaps key letters...which, may be more fun, but somehow also detract from the quote. Here's try #2:
I came across the following comments of Richard Foster which may or may not relate to your post...
"The 'spiritualities' that have arisen in our day do not answer the question of how we can become good people. Nor do they possess the power to make people good. But genuine Christian Spiritual Formation does answer the question and possess the power to bring it to pass. It is an answer and a power that shines brightly throughout history.
It is no accident that the blazing light and life of Christian faithfulness overcame and supplanted all the 'spiritualities' of Rome in the early centuries of the Christian era..."
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