Here in Canada, December tends to be a dark month – with short days, fog and snow, and sometimes unpleasant cold rain. Many of us crave light this time of year. So, is it any surprise that the image of Jesus coming as the Light of the World resonates with many in the Northern Hemisphere at Christmas?
As we prepare our hearts and minds to welcome the Light of the World anew this Christmas, it’s worth taking a few moments to think about how we experience the light of God in our lives. What helps us to glimpse light even in shadowed times? When do we feel fully alive? Where is joy and generosity and connection overflowing in us? How do we find love or peace even amid struggle? Our answers to these questions give us clues as to where we might experience God’s light in our lives.
What that looks like varies depending on our temperament and our circumstances. One person might delight in dancing around the Christmas tree, while another quietly lights a candle in memory of a loved one. One person might meticulously wrap a gift for a loved one, while another takes a plate of creatively decorated Christmas cookies that they made with a child who is currently wearing almost as much icing as made it onto the cookies to an elderly relative in a care home. One person might invite a bunch of friends for a drink and some Christmas caroling, while another might turn off all the noises, all the lights except the Christmas tree and revel in the silence. All of these activities can be holy acts that connect us with the light of God.
There isn’t one right way to replenish the light of God within us at Christmas (or any other time of the year). What’s important is that we remain attentive to tending that light. Sometimes busyness or other people’s expectations or our own ideas about what Christmas should look like can get in the way of really connecting with ourselves, with other people and with God. We can get caught up in doing and forget that nourishing the light usually happens in moments when being overshadows doing and we are fully in the here and now.
This Christmas, give yourself permission to tend the light of God within you. Or, as African American poet and theologian Howard Thurman so poignantly puts it in his book, The Mood of Christmas, give yourself permission to light some candles:
I will light Candles this Christmas,
Candles of joy despite all the sadness,
Candles of hope where despair keeps watch,
Candles of courage for fears ever present,
Candles of peace for tempest-tossed days,
Candles of grace to ease heavy burdens,
Candles of love to inspire all my living,
Candles that will burn all year long.
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Beth Kerr serves as pastor at Atwood United Church and Trinity United Church in Listowel.
