Christmas Musing #18 The Season of Light

 ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:5 English Standard Version

               When we lived in San Antonio, we rented a house in a nice area of town. Unbeknownst to us, it was part of a Homeowners Association. Normally this did not impact us, until Christmas time. A few weeks before Christmas a five-pound bag of sand, a stack of white paper bags, and a package of tea-light candles appeared on our porch, along with a sheet of instructions. Our HOA expected everyone to line their sidewalk with luminarias. I like Christmas decorations and especially Christmas lights. When my brother and I were kids, we pestered the frog out of my father to festoon our house with Christmas lights. He always refused, saying he did not want to take the trouble; however, at least once during each Christmas season we would all load up into the old Ford Station-Wagon and cruise around Abilene, taking in all the lights. Some neighborhoods, say around Lytle Shores or Sayles Boulevard went all out, and were quite impressive. Once when I was very little, my mother dug out all the old candle holders, put them on the tree, stuck candles in them, and then casting caution to the winds, lit them. She wanted to show us what Christmas trees looked like in her home growing up. Again, quite impressive but only done once…that I remember. For various reasons, Christmas and lights remain intertwined. Unlike my father, I do hang Christmas lights on my house. In Lubbock, I pay a former student to do so. In Cloudcroft, Christy and I hang them on our low eves, no ladders involved in that task. Each evening as I shuffle off to bed, I turn off the lights and for a little while sit in the glow of the lights on the tree and scattered around our house. Light and Christmas just go together, and it should be so.

               Though we do not normally consider John 1 as an “Advent” scripture, it really is. John carefully describes what happened in Advent, and why it is so important. I love the portion where he says, “the darkness has not overcome it.” We live in a broken and often dark world. As a teacher, I was constantly amazed at the sufferings visited upon many of my students. The things that take place behind closed doors stun me. I only read one newspaper and do not watch televised news. I limit my intake of news to maintain a positive outlook. I’m not hiding from the world, though I might consider doing that. I just understand that a continual focus on all the brokenness around me eventually drags me off God and His light. Perhaps that is why Christmas is so important, at least to me. For a month or so each year, I focus on Advent and what God did through it. I’m reminded that God’s true light came into the world, shone in all its glory, and still shines today. Try as it might, the darkness cannot quench the light.

               Some versions of the Bible render the word overcome as comprehend. I like that as well. The darkness does not understand the light. The light just does not make sense to the powers of darkness. But as John says later in this section, “¹² But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:12-13 God gives us the right to become children of and the understanding to believe in the light. Each Christmas I meditate on and thank God for this great gift. As I drive around and marvel at the lights festooning my word at Christmas, I’m reminded that we celebrate God’s light, His entry into our world, and how that changes everything.