Today I’m going to share much of the narration written for our
choir to present with music we’ve sung over the years. Of course you don’t have the advantage of
hearing the songs that interspersed the narration, but I hope you will catch
the flicker of light, the hope that the coming of the Christ Child can shed on
whatever darkness you may experience this season. May you understand and rejoice.
The
Light Has Come
When God’s
people were taken into exile, the voices of the prophets stilled, it seemed to them
that they were walking in darkness.
Isaiah 59:9 says, “We look for light, but all is darkness; for
brightness but we walk in deep shadows.”
We can understand that. There is so much darkness in our
world today, we sometimes despair as must have those waiting for the coming of
the Messiah.
Darkness is a lonely, daunting place to be. In the
darkness, everything we face seems worse; every pain bourgeons in severity. Positive
thought is difficult to grasp.
The dawn of a new day brings hope, but even in the dark
of the night, if we listen, God will whisper hope to us and there will be a
flicker of light.
As Christmas nears, even as we sing and rejoice, we need to be prepared.
Prepared for what?
Yet Christ was born
in a simple stable in the dark of night, and there came a glimmer of light. God
chose a simple stable to shelter the King.
And in the darkness
of our uncertainty, in situations and settings unexpected, the light will begin
to dawn: God will whisper hope to us. We may experience that hope as we behold
the Child of Bethlehem—God’s gift of love.
There must have been a glimmer of light in the breast of
Mary at the coming of the promised child; Joseph must have felt the dawn of
light as the words spoken to him in a dream months ago were fulfilled that
night.
But the light could not be contained in that dark stable
in Bethlehem. It burst into the very heavens, seen by simple shepherds and
kings from afar.
Even so, the Light wants to burst into our darkness, to
shine the light of love into our lives. As we open our hearts to that light, we
will want to join the angels with our praise and sing our Gloria to God.
The mighty chorus rang good news through the heavens. The
shepherds, when they heard the message the angels brought to them, were moved to
action. “Let’s go see what the angels have told us.”
They found him in a manger, an unassuming, humble place,
a little baby born, as all babies, with a lot of possibility and much mystery
surrounding the prospect of what would come to be. Looking at that tiny babe,
not yet was there understanding that as John’s gospel says that “In him was
life, and that life was the light of men.”
One would wonder, How can that be?
What do we do when we hear good news? Are we curious but stay where we are, or do we, too, act on the message we hear? Do we get up and follow?
John knew our confusion for he added: “The
light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.”
We can sing our glorias and rejoice but to truly dispel
the darkness, to open our understanding, to make our hallelujahs really ring, we
must start with offering our hearts as mangers to receive a new life—the gift
of love and light.
Our hearts—unassuming,
humble, and what we may think to be shockingly unsuitable places for the birth
of something so divine and royal—yet our hearts are exactly where God
wishes to come to be Emmanuel—God with us.
That is perhaps why God chose to be born as a helpless
baby. He wants to come to us in an
unthreatening way, small enough for us to handle, but packed with possibility
and bursting with promise. Possibilities that will be revealed as we grow in
relationship with him, walking in the Light he shines on our pathway.
It’s up to us to decide whether we want to be filled with
his light and reflect the Light of Life to the world around us. Do we want to
ask Jesus to make our hearts a manger for his presence?
If we do, we will want to share it with others. It’s hard
not to share good news so be invigorated to action. Yes, do go and tell!
www.ruthsmithmeyer.com
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1 comment:
Thanks for sharing this beautiful, hope-filled message. I'm sure its public presentation, along with the music and choir, has blessed those who have heard it and those who will yet hear it. The Light of Christ has indeed come, and may many hearts be open to respond and receive Him this Advent and Christmas season. ~~+~~
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