Wednesday, December 20, 2023
Isaiah 9:2
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness – on them light has shined.”
I’ve been thinking about how darkness has really settled into our bones as a society. For some, it started back in 2015. For others, years or decades or even centuries before that. A sense that there’s a cloud over everything, and it only intensified in 2020. That darkness seems to bear down even more harshly with every senseless act of violence or hatred or misogyny or ignorance. It covers us as a whole and as individuals. Rents go up, prices go up, wages stagnate, homes are lost, dreams are dashed. Life or death moments are literal states of life for so many. It’s sometimes hard to see light anywhere.
But then we do. We, the people who walked in the darkness, we see it. Not all at once, sometimes barely enough to allow it to register. But we do. We experience it. We get a kind word from a stranger on the street. We get a hug from a loved one. We go the extra mile and it’s noticed. We taste our favorite flavor. We see a flower growing up through the cement in a parking lot. We take in a movie with friends and laugh and cry and smile on the way out. We get a Facetime call from a toddler. We realize a prayer we couldn’t even verbalize has been answered. We see the pink in the sky near the end of the day. We feel the Christmas spirit creeping in through tinsel and holiday lights and inflatable snowmen. That is the light. Those things are all the light.
And the reminder in the next part of these verses in Isaiah chapter nine is that a child will be born. And light will find us all through Him, because of Him. The baby is the reminder. The baby is the hope. The baby is the light. He will be laid in a manger, and we’ll sing songs about Him in our car and in the grocery store and, if we’re lucky, surrounded by people we love, and He’ll light the way because HE IS THE LIGHT. It’s so easy to forget that. It’s so easy to push that aside. But it matters. Despite all of the darkness we have seen, and continue to experience, as people of faith, we see the light, we experience the light, we love the light, we are the light. Because the light has shined upon us. We’re the lucky ones. We know what’s coming. And we get to share our light with others. And I hope you get to do that this season.
Prayer:
Dear Lord, may we all get to feel your light this advent season. May we feel warmed and loved and lightened just enough to remember what you have promised and what is to come. Amen.
