Something Going On

Well, it finally happened.

Over the past 7 or 8 years, our family has agreed that we should get Christmas lights for the outside of our house.

Year after year, we’ve had a ritual of driving around the streets with the kids spotting the houses with lighting displays, judging the best and the worst. You know what I’m talking about……the lighting displays seem to get more popular with each passing year. They range from the conservative, simple but elegant shows, through to the over the top, gaudy and sometimes downright nasty lighting blitzes! Each year we come home saying that next year, we’ll have a few lights ourselves. Each year we have failed to fulfil that promise.

Well, this year is different. We have acquired a string of (simple but elegant) white lights which we’ve attached to the front of our house. Yesterday, the kids and I spent some time in the afternoon climbing ladders, hammers in hand hooking up the string of lights, running extension cords through windows making sure the bulbs all work – and then, waiting for darkness to fall! After what seemed like an eternity, the darkness came and with great excitement, we switched the light on – yes they worked!

So what’s the significance of all the flashing lights, the illuminated reindeer, the gaudy candy canes and the bizarre things that people do to their houses at Christmas? What’s the connection in this advent period of hope, peace, joy, love….and the birth of the Christ child?

As I sat on the porch on Sunday evening, surrounded by a flashing ‘blaze’ of Christmas lights, I got a great sense of the way the lights unashamedly declared that this time of the year is different than any other. I found myself on my now twinkling porch sensing the excitement and wonder of the coming of Christ. Out of the darkness the lights excitedly say to the world ‘this is something special’, ‘there’s something going on here’ or ‘take notice world, this light can shine through the darkness’.

I don’t imagine that everyone who ‘lights’ up their house does so considering the wonder of the coming of Christ……and that’s OK. The lights though, serve for all a reminder that this is a special time – that there is something going on. For Christians, there is nothing more special than God coming amongst us, taking on human form and leading us in a ‘path of light’ – even when the world can be a place of darkness.

As we approach the period of Christmas, it doesn’t really matter whether or not we hang lights all over our homes (for the record, I’m glad we did). The important thing is the celebration of Christ - ‘light of the world’. In this light, we can find salvation and eternal love. This year, celebrate the lights around you – people, relationships and community. Celebrate lights you have known or who have gone – they shine on in our hearts. Let these lights keep you ‘alight’ even when the decorations are packed away. Know the gift of God in your lives – a light shining brighter and longer – lovelier – lovelier in hope, joy, peace and love.

Know the light of Christ in your lives this Christmas.

Peter Heazlewood - for the leaders