Merry and Bright

Darkness comes early in December. The skies are often gray and cold, even in Texas. The dark clouds can feel oppressive, as if there’s a cover pulled over the world. Something shutting us in with the dark and cold. And when our gaze drops from the clouds to the world around us, we see more darkness and cold. Evil, as dark as any nightmare. Meanness and thousands uncaring, and lonely cold nights without those we wish were near.

This is wintertime.

It’s not merry and bright.

All is not peace in this world.

Family and friends don’t always show up out of nowhere to hold hands and sing.

Joy does not ring under the dark clouds.

Left alone, we are in the darkness of sin. Everywhere on earth death and sorrow and distress reign, and weeping fills the night that never ends. Alone, humanity lingers under a dying sky, and wintertime screams it louder in our ears. We are cursed. We are dying. Darkness is our legacy, and we can do nothing but pass that on to the next generation and say, “Do your best.”

But we are not left alone.

The sky cleaves open. The ultimate eucatastrophe enters in a blaze of angelic light. Another comes in. And with that birth of a baby through water, blood, and pain just like millions of babies before and after, came a sudden joyous turn. A wonder too big for angels to understand lay in the arms of a young girl in a cold stable under the dark sky. It is no accident that a star showed the way, and light burst in on the shepherds. This is the Light of the World, and God showed that to humanity that very first night.

I recently reread the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Hope unlooked for is the bright theme that turns the books from good stories to glorious tales that make our lives better. I noticed little things this time, as one does when rereading old favorites. Such as the section where Sam sees the star in the Return of the King:

“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach. His song in the Tower had been defiance rather than hope; for then he was thinking of himself. Now, for a moment, his own fate, and even his master’s, ceased to trouble him. He crawled back into the brambles and laid himself by Frodo’s side, and putting away all fear he cast himself into a deep untroubled sleep.[1]”

There is Light untarnished by sin and evil. Light that can never be dimmed. Light that shines with a hope that cannot be diminished and cannot die.

Sam had to look away from himself to find the light and peace he longed for. Hope is not found in us. We have to look outward to find the light that is above all our sorrows and strivings and the darkness of an evil world. And yet, while it’s beautiful to remember there is “light and high beauty” far above all of our sorry world, and that knowledge brings peace… There is an even better delight.

This light doesn’t just shine above us.

“A hush fell over God’s heavenly host. The hearts of every bird, beast, and being with breath in its body skipped a beat. The stars and planets bowed down in the clear silent night. And with the gentleness of a snowflake landing just before an avalanche, the long-awaited royal Son of David, the Greatest-Great-Grandson of Abraham, the everlasting King, Jesus, Immanuel, God with Us, finally appeared! He came into the world as light… To face the darkness on His own[2].”

We are not left alone in the dark.

Immanuel has entered in.

The dark has been blown apart in glorious beams of pure miracle from Heaven itself. Peace does reign; it comes from God and is extended for man to have peace with Him. Light came to us. The sky opened, and He entered in. Holy light, new and undefiled and truly wonderous. The world can never be the same now that Jesus set foot here. He came to us. The Creator of light, the source and the Light itself came to dwell in our world.

And this light doesn’t just shine above us.

It doesn’t just dwell in our world.

It lives within us.

“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.[3]”

We are not left alone in the dark. We are not left alone with our dark. God knows we cannot be whole without Him, and He chose to make us holy and wholly his. We bear a light within us. And if we walk with Him, listening to His whispers and shouts, we shine even in the darkest places.

“And sometimes, the brightest light is encased in jars of clay.[4]”

Put up your Christmas lights this year. They are more than just a pretty memento filled with memories.

They are defiance thrown into the face of the darkness.

Hope laughing despite sin and misery.

A message about Another shining bright for a whole month to the sorry, sad world to wonder at.

Put up your Christmas lights. Laugh and sing and wear your Christmas sweaters. We rejoice because Light has burst in on us, and stayed, and we too shine in the glorious beauty of a Savior Who did not leave us alone in the dark. Look up, the sky is open and God dwells with man. No matter what the season looks like for you on the outside this year, you can rejoice. Dwell with God, and let events fall where they will. Live in the Light and shine bright. This is the season to show our hope to those still under the closed gray skies struggling in the darkness. God is our joy. And He is big enough to swallow any sorrow you may carry, lift any weight, and let you shine.

We are not left alone in the dark.

Rejoice, for Immanuel is with us.