Light-Filled Blessings

The season of Christmas is bookended with prophecies of light.

Our holy commemoration of the nativity begins with Isaiah’s commentary about the light of God coming to the people – “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined.” (9.2)

These are powerful words for anyone who has experienced darkness – of body, mind, and spirit. These folks have known the dark; they have sat in it; they have been deeply impacted by it.

And these are the same people who embrace the light with relief when it arrives. They hear the words that are meant to bring us comfort and consolation, to inspire us with the Divine salvific promise of salvation made manifest in the person of the incarnate Christ, to remind us that earthly happiness and eternal joy are joined and enfleshed in the baby Jesus.

The light is here! Let the world rejoice! Even Jesus himself often cites Isaiah’s words in speaking good news to all people.

Yet, in the midst of our celebrations, we know that darkness continues.
And it is into this darkness that we speak light-filled blessings.

For we, as people of the light, have received that great gift of God. And, as people of the light, we know that receiving the light of the Lord is not meant to be an act of accepting a gift without engaging in the work of the light.

Engage we can, and engage we must! It is a part of our vocation to be the light-bearers in the world. To reject the darkness means to have faced it, to overcome the darkness means we have truly encountered it.

As light-bearers, we carry the true light: not an artificial or superficial illumination, but the life-giving and life-changing reality of the light-filled blessing that comes from God. This light cannot be forced, it cannot be denied – and it cannot be limited.

So let’s be sated with those blessings that we receive this season, and in these 12 days of Christmas come up with a way to continue our Christian journey into the Epiphany – for there we will hear Isaiah extend our invitation to active ministry thus equipped with light: “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” (60.1)

Let us truly and deeply, and faithfully, delight in the Light. 

For it is a blessing for us all when we bless the world with God's light.