Another Advent Devotional

 Close your eyes

Wait…

Not yet…

Open them back up. Gosh, you’re so impatient. Wait to close your eyes until after I tell you what you are supposed to imagine when they are closed. 

Now, when they are closed I want you to imagine darkness, shouldn’t be too difficult, but then I want you to imagine a time when you were surrounded by darkness and then there was a light. Perhaps it is at a Christmas Eve service at church where they turned off the lights and then one candle was lit, and then another, and another, until the whole room was full of light. Perhaps you were taking a walk in the woods and time got away from you and you were headed back to your car and the sun went down so you took small step after small step hoping not to trip on a random root or stone until the light of the parking lot finally illumined your way. Perhaps you woke up from a nightmare scared out of your wits but then your eyes adjusted and you could see the LED of the clock telling you it is 3:13 and you still have a couple more hours to sleep.

What did you see? Did you see it only? Did you also feel it? Did you feel the darkness like a weighted blanket holding you to the spot, feeling it slow you down, feeling it as if it was a tangible force weighed against you? Interestingly I can not imagine things in my mind’s eye, but I can very much remember the feeling of each of those examples and remember the strength of the dark.

But, I also remember the strength of the light. The amount of warmth from that first candle, and then the growing warmth of the other candles, joining together to brighten a room. I remember the safety of the parking lot fluorescent allowing me, and my girlfriend at the time, to see slightly better with each step. I remember the comfort of the mundane seeing the clock. I also remember the feeling of power in the creation of my eye able to take the ambient light surrounding me to make the darkness not as imposing in each and every circumstance.

In Isaiah 2:9 the prophet says,  “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.”

In John 1:4 & 5 the gospel writer says “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

You see there is darkness, all around, all the time. There is the darkness of hate. There is the darkness of prejudice. There is the darkness of abuse. There is the darkness of neglect. There is the darkness of lies. There is the darkness of overindulgence. There is the darkness of exploitation. There is the darkness of misleading. There is darkness all around, and yet, there is light also. Light that is hope. Light that is life. Light that is love. And as sure as Jesus pierced the darkness with his life we in turn continue to pierce the darkness each moment we live as though he lives in us. That is the true beauty of Advent, a light enters into the darkness. God dwells among. Love invades. Life blossoms. Hope prevails.

A light enters into the darkness.

God dwells among.

Love invades.

Life blossoms.

Hope Prevails.

The darkness is there, but the light comes and makes the darkness easier to navigate. There will still be dark corners, still be places where understanding is difficult to find, where peace is a wispy mistress, where we must tread carefully so as not to trip or to get lost. But even though there is darkness, there will always be a light for those who seek it out and know how to follow its beam.

Darkness and Light. Possibly the whole point of the Bible can be condensed down into those two words. It is the story of creation. It is the story of the flood.  It is the story of Exodus. It is the story of David. It is the story of exile. It is the story of Advent and Christmas. It is the story of Lent and Easter. It is the story of Revelation’s destruction and a world made new. And we will return to this concept again.

Peace and Love,

Kenny