John 8:12 NIV: When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
One of the traditions of Christmas that I love is the lighting of the Advent candles. We do this at church, but I also do it daily at home during December. There is a reason we light a candle rather than ring a bell, do a dance, light incense, or sing a hymn to mark each passing week of Advent. Advent means “arrival,” from the Latin advenire, “to come.” Thus, the season of Advent is the waiting for and anticipating the arrival of Christ in the birth of Jesus.
We light a candle, then, because, throughout the scriptures, Jesus is represented by light. So, we can say that in Advent, we are waiting for the arrival of the true light—in Christ!
I can think of no better metaphor for God than light. Not just because light illuminates and helps us see, but it also overcomes darkness. Light through fire (even candles) brings warmth and comfort. Light protects us from unseen harm and is a detourant for questionable activities.
Light is also one of my favorite paradoxes. In quantum mechanics, light is recognized as having wave-particle duality. That’s a fancy way of saying light is both a wave and particle, which is theoretically impossible and yet exists. Guess what else is theoretically impossible? Jesus is both man and God – yet, like light, he exists as both!
Someone asked me recently where I thought God would show up today. In the Old Testament, they record all of these mighty ways God interacted with the world. I thought about the birth of Christ, the moment of Incarnation when God showed up as a baby and became the light of the world. Then, Jesus said we, too, should be the light of the world. To me, that means that God shows up through other people. I believe he’s just as active and mighty as the stories of old; we’ve just lost the ability to recognize him.
May you look for and find the LIGHT this Advent season.
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