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| Image by Miguel Virkkunen Carvalho |
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Third Day of Christmas
A GREETING
On the day I called, you answered me, you increased my strength of soul.
(Psalm 138:3)
A READING
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
(Luke 2:15-20)
MUSIC
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
Even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
(Psalm 139:12)
A POEM
At morn – at noon – at twilight dim –
Maria! thou hast heard my hymn!
In joy and woe – in good and ill –
Mother of God, be with me still!
from "Hymn", a poem by Edgar Allen Poe
VERSE OF THE DAY
For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
(Isaiah 9:6)
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| "Across the River from the Capital" by William Kurelek (1976) |
“For darkness is as light to you.” All of the traditions surrounding Christmas suggest that Jesus was born at night. The story tells us that the visitors came by night: the shepherds and Magi were both guided by heavenly messengers and/or the Star of Bethlehem to the place where Jesus lay. Jesus is identified with the relationship between light and darkness with an additional implication that Jesus is the light that breaks darkness. Jesus himself says in John 8: "‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.’" How then, do we hold this saying by Jesus in relationshp to the line by the psalmist? We know from Genesis 1 that God created day and night at the same time, and both were called “good”. We give the name “good” to the day Jesus died: most certainly the Crucifixion took place in daylight. Jesus goes to meet with God at night on the mountain during the days of his teaching. It is daylight when he is challenged and mocked by the Pharisees; it is night when he calms the storms at sea. Nicodemus comes by night to listen and learn; Gabriel visits Mary (we always imagine) at night. The biblical story holds light and darkness in equal value. The light Jesus brings to the world is the ability to see our way toward love and justice. The light of Jesus is the gentleness of comfort and the harsh light of reckoning. The light and the darkness are as one to God. The light, the dark, and the hallowed spaces inbetween when the light is transitioning from one to another, are all holy. Jesus comes into our lives to inspire us to bring truth to power, to embolden our vision for how to build the realm of God, so that we are better able to understand more clearly what separates life from death, here on earth. In William Kurelek’s painting above, Mary and the child are found across the river from the Canadian Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, recalling the words of Isaiah, “and the government shall be upon his shoulders”. Jesus does not just bring light to darkness, he is the meeting place between them. Jesus allows us to hold all of the qualities of light and darkness in one “good” of the Creation account, knowing that Jesus was there at the dawn of the world. Within this perspective, we may be better able to hold as one, the strength and weakness of our own inner nature, our own experience and knowledge. We might be better able to see the dark skin of Jesus, and the midnight light of the lamps held by those who are fleeing persecution and injustice, as Jesus and Mary and Joseph soon will be. Jesus brings comfort and peace, in the daylight and in the night. How has he upheld you in your life in the different hours of light and darkness? How is he holding you now, as you journey through this Christmas season of blessings and challenges, of sadness and joy?
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Thank you and peace be with you!
