Saturday, December 21, 2013

Advent darkness with the offer of light

I write this on the shortest day of the year with gales forecast for tonight and continuing through Christmas 2013.   At 9.00am today the sky above Penysarn, Anglesey was as black as I have seen it.   In daylight terms this was truly a very short day.   Over these 24 hours we could expect a great deal of darkness.
It was out of the darkness that Jesus came in the manger at Bethlehem, situated in a cave stable with his mother and father, unable to find any room in which to stay.   We are reminded of the dark and forbidding world in which we live when we read the nativity story of "no room at the inn".   There never has been any room in this world for God incarnate.   Only those who are committed to God are able to find him a corner in which to dwell.   The indwelling God, here in the world, reminds us that even in a hostile place there is room and a potential for love and salvation.
Today we face great challenges.   It becomes harder to make headway against life's storms.   Each week I volunteer at our local food bank and meet the people who have come for an emergency supply of three days' food.   One client told me of losing his job and a few months later losing his child of 7 months.   The crushing effect of these two events in his life have caused his health to deteriorate too.   Yet, still, he has dignity in his face and wears clean clothes.   His attitude to life ennobles him and causes him to stand up straight, even though he has incredible problems just getting through each day.
Jesus commented that "the poor will always be with us", and this is true.   Society, in general, looks down on people on benefits as though they have no right to occupy our streets and towns.   They say there is no need for poverty.   It might become true if all were to live by the standards Jesus laid down form his disciples.   But while there are those who earn great sums of money and complain about taxation the poor will always be there.   As I look around I see great inequality growing like rising yeast with no signs of abatement.   Oh, yes, the world to which Jesus came 2,000 years ago remains very dark indeed.
When you travel through a long tunnel, you see the small pinprick of light ahead that is the other end of the tunnel.   It gives you a point to aim for, the hope of salvation as you travel in darkness.   That light at the tunnel's far end reminds me of the star of Bethlehem that shone to speak of hope and salvation in all that darkness.   Lowly shepherds and mighty kings from the east together made their way to see the new king who brought salvation.   God beckoned and they came, drawn as if by a magnet.   There in the straw they found a small baby and marvelled at the hope for the world that came with him.
As I writ,e there are millions of Syrians without homes and many without shelter, caught up in a vicious civil war.   All over the world conflict rages as the powerful deny the weak a home or a meal.   Thousands of people in this country are devaluing their lives by taking drugs that will only destroy.   We see pictures of blood dripping from the hands of those who see themselves soldiers fighting a war that has no validity in reality.
Do we need Jesus to come to us again this Christmas?   I'll say we do.   He is our only hope.   People searching for peace and salvation in the worldly things of life do not know of their desperate need of the baby of Bethlehem.   All of them have a chance.   I pray that they do not walk away like the rich young man of the gospels.   Coming to Jesus is no quick fix for it is the beginning of a long journey.   But that journey has the greatest destination and a promise of true peace that cannot come any other way.

1 Comments:

Blogger pilgrim said...

Thanks for this post Keith directing all to Jesus Light of the World. Happy Christmas!

12:14 PM  

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