December 6
You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy;
in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Psalm 16:11 NRSV
Have you ever tried to darken a room? And I don’t mean entering a party and sharing somber news or telling an off-color joke. I mean have you ever needed to black out a space for optimal movie viewing or to create the ultimate hibernation pod to catch up on some much-needed sleep? It is not an easy feat, just ask Sam Perkins how easy it is to darken the Fellowship Hall or Chapel in preparation for our Good Friday services. Theaters post signs warning us to switch our phones off not only because of the loud annoying sounds they make but because of light contamination. Many know this already as scripture tells us “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it” and it’s during this season of Advent that we hear it most often.
One of my favorite works during the Advent and Christmas season is “Bending Towards the Light: A Jazz Nativity” by Anne Phillips. In the Christmas story told through the medium of jazz, there are the usual suspects, holy family, angel choirs, kings offering their gifts of dance, percussion and horn and there are of course shepherds. Particularly a shepherd child who sings in the most angelic child soprano voice of the world “shimmering and glimmering, a wondrous holy night, where all the grass and trees that grow, everything in sight is bending towards the light.” On that holiest of nights, the light did shine in the darkness and with the light of a star, God did indeed guide those shepherds and kings on the path of life. And in the presence of the Christ, God incarnate, there was certainly the fullness of joy. Perhaps Charles Kuralt said it best….
“In Bethlehem in the grotto where Christ was born, a light shines into the darkness. The light is meant to serve, as light serves for so many religions and philosophies, as a symbol of truth and love and hope. Hope, that even in a dark season, we may begin to see the world BENDING TOWARDS THE LIGHT.”
– Charles Kuralt from The Jazz Nativity
May it be so.
Prayer: Gracious God as we live into this season where the darkness lingers a bit longer each morning and arrives earlier than we would like each evening, may we be reminded that your light shines in the darkness and the darkness will not over come it. Amen.
Clint Whitlow
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