|
Advent for us here in the Northern
Hemisphere of the globe always seems to have a certain air of
sadness about it for it is a season of diminishing light. The
closer we come to the cold winds of winter the more we seem to
need something to hope in, something to reassure us. Winter
reminds us that we have left behind the warmth and brightness of
summer days only to penetrate more and more each day into the
gloom and cold, into the darkness of winter. What reassures us
more than anything else is light.
But Advent is also a season of
expectation accompanied by hope. Our hope is that light will
come to dissipate the darkness that surrounds us. As a symbol of
this hope we place the Advent wreath in a prominent place in the
sanctuary and light an additional candle each week to symbolize
the light we long for. This is also the reason John the
Evangelist begins his Gospel with the words: "The Light shines
in the darkness, and the darkness has never mastered it" (1:5).
The situation in our world this year as
we approach the feast of Christmas is grave. We are still
enraged in a war in Iraq, people in parts of Africa are starving
and dying by the thousands many victims of genocide; there is no
peace in the Middle-East. In a season of peace, sadly, there is
no peace. And so our longing grows greater as our situation
grows graver. But: "The Light shines in the darkness, and the
darkness has never mastered it."
When you read John's Gospel you will
notice there are two questions that are constantly directed at
Jesus: Where do you come from? Where are you going? For we who
believe, the answers are of course that Jesus comes from the
Father, makes the Father known, and in so doing, brings light
and salvation to the world. These are the glad tidings of the
Gospel, that the Kingdom of God is truly among us. "And the
Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not mastered
it."
Isn't it significant that when Jesus
came, he came among the poor. And, by and large, it was they who
received his message. When Jesus and his message are welcomed in
the Gospel accounts, it is by the pure of heart, those who can
see God, who let in the light, whatever the hour of the day. And
the results - well, they were just wonderful: the eyes of the
blind are opened, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the lepers are
cleansed. As John again says it: "From his full store we have
all received grace upon grace." So our task in Advent is to
rediscover that abundance, that light upon light, and to allow
it to penetrate our world, starting with our own hearts, and
then sharing with others.
|
