The Light in the Darkness - Blue Christmas
Genesis 1:1-5
In the very first moments of the Bible, we see both our tragedy and our hope. When God first created it was formless and void. There was no consistency, there was nothing to hold onto, it was empty of any meaning, purpose, or real substance. When we are struck by tragedy, loss, and loneliness, we can often feel this way. What is the purpose? Why did this have to happen? In these moments, we are experiencing something very real, creation without God’s presence, order and purpose. It is important to reflect on these moments to see what we are lacking, where we still need God, and where we can grow in faith.
Our hope starts with God’s Spirit hovering over the deep. The world, the emptiness, the chaos is imagined as an endless writhing ocean. Our grief can feel this deep, this all-encompassing, but God’s Spirit is hovering over it all, wanting to bring order and life. That’s what results. God speaks and his words take action creating order. The light is separated from the darkness and we can see the chaos for what it is. The light of God poured out through his word cannot be overcome by the darkness. It is the beginning and source of life in a seemingly empty void.
Jesus is that same light and word that we prepare to receive so that he too can bring order to our chaos and fill the empty void.
Exodus 13:17-22
In Egypt, the Israelite people were slaves. They felt burdened, trapped, and abused and so they cried out to God. I can’t say how many were praying or how long this went on, but what I do know is that God heard them and he responded. There were a lot of people and situations that stood in God’s way, but he delivered them from the yoke of oppression.
Though our bodies or spirits may be free, sometimes it takes our hearts and minds to catch up. As God had delivered them numerous times already, he would do so again and again. Yet, he protects them from numerous trials. At this moment we hear that he avoids taking Israel through a powerful nation, not because he can’t defeat them, but because he knows the people’s fear and how easily they will run away back into slavery.
We too can feel and are burdened, trapped, and abused, God hears us in our prayers and will deliver us. He will often even protect us from the worst of it, but we must be careful not to run back into our own burdens. Sometimes, we like it better because it seems comfortable or we are used to it, rather than the unknown that God is leading us into.
The desert would be a scary place. Not much survives there. The red sea would have seemed impossible to cross. It would have been easy to feel like death was on all sides, but God leads us through death and the wasteland out the other side.
By his presence and by his light, he will show us the way, even when we don’t know where to go, how we might escape, or how we might even survive. God’s light will guide us out of slavery, through the deserts and wilderness of our lives. Jesus is this same light that we are preparing a way for.
Isaiah 60:1-3
Your light has arrived. Wake up. Get up, go to it and follow it. This feels difficult enough when darkness is all too real and surrounding us.
Yet, Isaiah is saying more than that. He tells us Arise, Shine, for your light has come. This powerful light we speak of that guides us that brings order and purpose is Christ, but he is not just external and separate, he is meant to shine through us and live in us.
Isaiah does not ignore the fact that darkness is really there or that it surrounds us. Isaiah watched as armies captured most of Israel and marched against and surrounded Jerusalem. He could see all around him as people turned against God and as faithlessness became corruption and turmoil. He knew of the hurt and loss, yet he still knew that God’s light was far more powerful. He knew that it could overcome all of it and that it could overcome all the suffering in us too.
In the hardest times, even while we are in the midst of mourning, or suffering, if we know and understand the fullness of God’s saving help, love, and power, we can become a well or a beacon of light for those around us. It isn’t that we don’t experience grief or loss or hardship, in fact, it is the opposite. We can experience the depth of it, but Christ’s light that lives in us is far far far brighter than all that darkness. This hope we know can be a light to all, Why wouldn’t nations crowd to it and search for it? This same light that wants to live and shine through us is Christ Himself.
Luke 1:46-55
Mary has always astounded me. At this moment, she is living into everything we have been talking about and more.
Remember Mary had yet to be married. She lived in an honour and shame society. She lived in a small town. She was betrothed to a moderately poor man.
So, when the angel tells her that she is going to give birth to a son given to her by the Holy Spirit, it would have meant an utter change to her life. Babies change enough already, but add to that shame, persecution, becoming outsiders, greater poverty, abandonment, and more. Mary would have been walking into a very difficult life, brought to her by God, but how does she respond?
She responds with praise, with joy, with elation. What a beautiful faith she had. At that moment, even before Jesus was born the light of Christ which brought order to the chaos, and substance to the void, and life in the absence already lived in her. She knew the light that guided, protected, and delivered her would continue to be faithful to the end. She knew that the light of Christ shown through her so that she could become a beacon and soon God’s light in Christ would literally burst out.
Mary could see in the midst of her suffering and loss that God would deliver her, that light would shine and that all of it would be redeemed in Christ. This is a difficult example to follow, and I don’t think we all can respond this way but nonetheless, Mary’s response shows us what God’s light can truly mean in the midst of our darkness. In fact, she sees what her suffering can be for the lighting of the world as the proud are scattered, the powerful brought low, the humble lifted up, and the hungry filled. May we all have eyes like Mary to see what Christ’s light can mean for us.
