Light, what light?

Today’s reading is Isaiah 9:2-7.

Others have written about the appearances in Suffolk in early October of the Northern Lights. It is quite beyond me to understand how my phone camera can pick up colours in the sky which I cannot see with my own eyes. Putting the physics on one side, this gives us a good illustration of how it is that we do not all see everything that is around us. My inability to see something neither proves nor disproves its existence.

The prophet Isaiah foresaw light shining in the darkness, the defeat of the Assyrian army and the arrival of a new and scandal free leader. Isaiah’s words can be interpreted in various ways for different situations but their overarching theme is of better and brighter. The story of the wise men (astrologers from the east) is about seeing and interpreting a light. Is it safe to assume that the star they followed to Bethlehem was there for all to see and yet it was those three who saw in it more than just another glimpse of the sky at night?

Some of us will have attended carol services already. Many school nativity plays will have happened already. There will be more opportunities this weekend and into next week for hearing again the familiar readings that speak of light in the darkness and hope for a groaning world.

Our news is replete with all we need to feel anxious. War, homelessness and disease are timeless harbingers of doom; it is right that we take life seriously and treat its risks with respect but that does not negate the power of the message of the light shining in the darkness. Our daughter called to say we should be able to see the Northern Lights; I said I could see nothing but then I was told to take a picture with my phone. Leaning out of my study window I did as I was bidden, and there they were, those marvellous lights, stealing across the sky.

Had I walked up onto the fields for a mile and got away from the lights of the town I would have seen more, but I got the point.

This Christmas, may you see the light of Christ where you are; and even if others say there is nothing to see that does not mean there is nothing there. You may want to make a bit more effort and get a clearer picture but whichever is the case, may you be blessed.

A Prayer

God of light, come close to me and help look the right way to see you beside me in all I do. If I lose sight of you, dawn on the sky of my mind again. When others say you are not there, reassure me and give me the words to explain to them how they can see you too. God of Peace, make Christmas real so we can know the presence of Jesus Christ. Amen.