Waiting for the Light

Yesterday was the shortest day of the year. Today, with less than nine hours of daylight, will also be very short, but we've turned the corner. After months of increasing darkness we are turning toward the light. Longing for light seems to be rampant. In recent days light has come up in a wide variety of conversations:

• I have heard a number of people discussing the "Christmas Morning Rules" also known as "How early can the day start?" Parents want the tree lit, everyone properly garbed (though definitions differ.) One 8th grade boy gave me his Christmas morning formula this week. It was elaborate and involved sunrise, Christmas movies, collusion with siblings, and a dawning awareness of the joy of giving as this year he bought gifts for parents and siblings with money he had earned and saved. 
• I discussed the hopes and fears of motherhood with a young woman whose first-born child will soon see the light of day. She is filled with joy and anticipation but also fear that she isn't ready. I could only reassure her that the child would help to show her the way. 
• A friend who is currently living and working in the southern hemisphere is musing on her blog about Christmas in the "summer." She is a bit befuddled by the long days after spending most of her life with dark and snowy Christmases.
• As I drive up and down the streets of my town I enjoy the lights people have strung on trees and eaves and around windows. I love the inflatables lit from inside and the painted wooden cut-outs illuminated with spotlights. The light poles downtown are festooned with lamps, just for the season.
• Biblical accounts of the birth of Christ tell of angels appearing to shepherds with the glory of the Lord shining around them, and highlight the star that led the Magi to the manger.
• My new home also has gifts of lights. At the entrances are lights with motion detectors which turn on the light as I approach. In fact, as soon as I open the door from the garage the light begins to shine. Once inside, the hallway is also equipped with motion detectors so that I can step out without wondering what awaits me in the dark. 
• The human eye can see the light of a single candle in full dark from a distance of 3.6 miles.
• John, the brilliant poet of the Gospel writes, "The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it." Joseph Mohr, writer of the beloved hymn Silent Night, refers to the baby as "love's pure light."

Light is nearly always welcomed. It brings comfort, joy, relief from fear, sight, information, protection, and hope. Light fulfills our hopes. It is a fitting metaphor for the Christ child, and the Risen Christ to come. 

Stargazing

Stars are lighting up the night sky. Not the gaseous, flaming globes placed in the heavens by the creator, but the celebrities created by human adoration and intense market manipulation. A quick review of the trending stories at Yahoo makes no mention of the war in Syria but is topped this hour with yet another story of JonBenet Ramsey, a child beauty pageant competitor who was murdered at the tender age of six, thirteen years ago.  Judging by what is foremost in the media, it would appear that we are more interested in celebrities than in any other subject. People magazine is the most popular magazine in America with 46.6 million readers. That's more than double the news magazine Time, its publishing parent.

Have we been manipulated into arrested development? When I was in junior high I read Tiger Beat magazine for alleged details of the private lives of Bobby Sherman and David Cassidy. I'm pretty sure that my mom had no idea who those heartthrobs were. By the time I started high school I was listening to different music and had abandoned Tiger Beat and the other celebrity rags. It seemed the natural order of things.

These days it would be hard to find someone who can't distinguish between Justin Bieber and Justin Timberlake. It would be nearly as hard to find any American who can name both the Canadian Prime Minister and the President of Mexico. It seems we have abandoned life as adults in favor of perpetual adolescence where we follow the exploits of the Real Housewives instead of the Real Kids living in our homes.

Celebrities aren't harmful in their own right but they have the power to distract us from things that really matter. It is a short walk from celebrity to idolatry. The celebrities themselves may not be the idols; it is often the lifestyle we imagine they live that we covet. When time spent keeping up with celebrity news takes away from worthier pursuits we may be committing sins of omission, leaving things undone. Another potential result of celebrity watching is the discontent with ourselves and our lives that can be generated. Who still loves their three-bedroom, two-bath home after taking a tour of Oprah's 23,000 square foot home on 42 acres outside of Santa Barbara?


The stars in the heavens cause us to pause and consider their maker. They can dazzle with their brilliance and lift our minds to a higher plain and a longer view. They can ignite our curiosity and inspire awe and wonder. The stars of Hollywood cannot do that. At best they entertain us while at worst they elicit discontent, envy, and distract us from things that are far more important.

I never tire of these words from Psalm 8: "When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?" Lift your eyes to the stars and moon and give thanks. God is mindful of all us mortals here on earth. . . even the ones we think are stars.

Night Lights

A recent trip to a hardware store made me aware of the wide variety of nightlights available. Frankly, the only innovation in nightlights from the nights of my childhood to the nights of my motherhood was the invention of the electric eye which would turn the nightlight on for you. These days there are nightlights licensed for every children's movie, cartoon character, and fairy-tale princess, along with artistic renderings that are truly lovely, as well as functional. It gave me a warm glow to think about the comfort of nightlights and the wonderful metaphor of Jesus coming into the world as light.

My first nightlight memory is from about age five when we had a nightlight in the bedroom- under-the-eaves that my sister and I shared. I would sometimes wake when my mom's shadow blocked it out as she came to take my little sister to the bathroom one more time before retiring. My mother's presence enhanced the safe feeling the nightlight created. I can also still picture the fuzzy glow from the bathroom across the hall from my next childhood bedroom. Faint, barely there, but enough light to reveal where you were; my sleepy eyes could take in the shape of the door set ajar and the light through the transom above. I could see that I was in my own bed, at home, or find my way across the hall in the dark.

There is no underestimating the power of light to comfort a child, or an adult for that matter.  In the church year, we are in the season of light. The season begins with the star that leads the Wisemen to the newborn Jesus, and ends with this same Jesus shining like the sun just before beginning a journey to the ultimate darkness of death. During this season you can find a gazillion ways to talk with your children about God. With a little imagination, you can use almost anything that gives light to start a conversation about faith. Here are a few ideas:

• Light a candle at dinnertime and at the end of the meal, turn out the lights and have a brief prayer time.
• Read a story by flashlight, under the covers.
• Toast marshmallows in the fireplace and make s'mores indoors.
• Take a late night drive away from the city lights, spread out a blanket, and stare at the stars.
• Make a dessert you set on fire - like Bananas Foster
• Count the lights, and the different kinds of lights, you see in church 

You probably won't ignite a big epiphany, but you can plant the idea that wherever there is light, God can be found. In the words of the old camp song, “it only takes a spark to get a fire going.” Ignite your child’s faith in small ways and time, prayer, and the Holy Spirit will fan the flames of faith.