This year’s midweek Advent services were shaped around the Holden Evening Prayer service. I offered a reflection for each of the three weeks. The first week was a reflection on the Advent image of light (shared below), the second was a repeat of a previous sermon on the symbolism and meaning of the Messiah’s birth in Bethlehem, and for the third week I read the book God’s Holy Darkness by Sharei Green & Beckah Selnick, illustrated by Nikki Faison.
No audio or video for this week, but here’s my reflection for December 3 on the Light of the World.
I want to reflect tonight on the image of light, the Advent promise of the Light of the World born among us. Listen to the words of the first song we sang.
Jesus Christ, you are the light of the world;
the light no darkness can overcome;
stay with us now for it is evening, and the day is almost over.
Let your light scatter the darkness, and shine within your people here.
(Service of Light: Procession from Holden Evening Prayer, by Marty Haugen)
From the prologue of John’s Gospel:
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The Word was with God in the beginning.
Everything came into being through the Word, and without the Word nothing came into being. What came into being through the Word was life, and the life was the light for all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness doesn’t extinguish the light.
I said on Sunday that Advent is a season that plays with time, as we wait to hear the story of God’s arrival in our world. Jesus is born at Christmas, and Jesus will come again in the future, and Jesus is present with us tonight.
This is a season of waiting in the darkness, yet trusting in the light.
I want to introduce you to a new song, called in Silence We Wait. Mary’s going to play through the melody, then we’ll sing it together three times.
In silence we wait, in darkness you come to us; bring us your light.
(All Creation Sings #998In Silence We Wait by Susan Masters)
Stay with us now, for it is evening, and the day is almost over.
John 8:12 – Jesus spoke to the people again, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me won’t walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
Advent is about waiting, preparing for the birth of the light of the world. We pray for Jesus’ light to dawn.
This is a poem by Edwina Gateley, titled “Advent”
Advent means
we are waiting for something,
we are to expect
something good and up-lifting
to make us feel better.
And why not?
We struggle so,
and we only want
peace, security and even
a little happiness.
We dream of it—
like a lost treasure
in an empty desert.Then, in the very dying of the Autumn Season,
along comes Advent
with candles, prayers, songs
and promises
of new possibilities.And, all tingling
with excitement and expectancy,
we are seduced
into hoping once again.Oh—thank God
for Advent—
and its perennial promise—
pointing to a light
which never dies.
We sing: In Silence We Wait
In silence we wait, in darkness you come to us; bring us your light.
Joyous light of heav’nly glory, loving glow of God’s own face,
you who sing creation’s story, shine on every land and race.Now as evening falls around us,
we shall raise our songs to you,
God of daybreak, God of shadows,
come and light our hearts anew.
(Service of Light: Procession from Holden Evening Prayer, by Marty Haugen)
James chapter 1, verses 16 & 17:
Don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good gift, every perfect gift, comes from above. These gifts come down from the Father, the creator of the heavenly lights, in whose character there is no change at all.
He chose to give us birth by his true word, and here is the result: we are like the first crop from the harvest of everything he created.
And from Revelation 20:
I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.
The glory of God is our light, and our lamp is the Lamb of God, who gives himself to take away our sins, reconciling a broken creation to a loving creator.
Love that fills the night with wonder,
love that warms the weary soul,
Love that bursts all chains asunder,
set us free and make us whole.
Come, Lord Jesus.
In silence we wait, in darkness you come to us; bring us your light.
Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city on top of a hill can’t be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they put it on top of a lampstand, and it shines on all who are in the house.
In the same way, let your light shine before people, so they can see the good things you do and praise your Father who is in heaven.”
You who made the heaven’s splendor,
ev’ry dancing star of night,
make us shine with gentle justice,
let us each reflect your light.
(Service of Light: Procession from Holden Evening Prayer, by Marty Haugen)
Let us each reflect your light. We shine with the light of the one whose image we bear, reflecting the light, the love, the grace of our Savior, the one who is born among us.
The light we shine is not our own, but a reflection of our creator, who in love has given us life..
Paul writes to the church in Corinth:
“Christ is the image of God. We don’t preach about ourselves. Instead, we preach about Jesus Christ as Lord, and we describe ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake.
God said that light should shine out of the darkness. He is the same one who shone in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.”
We are called as witnesses, pointing to the light of Christ, working for justice in the name of Jesus. In the waiting, in the night, in this world of fears and hopes, this world of beauty and chaos, shadow and dreams, may we be beacons of the light.
Jesus Christ is the light of the world, and the light is dawning.
One more time, In Silence We Wait.
In silence we wait, in darkness you come to us; bring us your light.