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Well, the build up to Christmas has begun with all the stresses and strains that go with it. But there is something about Christmas that is truly wonderful – the sharing of light. I remember as a child going with my mother to visit my aunt on the other side of Bristol in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Where we got off the bus there was a house opposite that had a huge Christmas tree in the window covered in bright, colourful lights. This is in the days when Christmas lights were not as available as they are today. The first time we had Christmas lights at home was when my late grand mother came to live with us when I was about twelve. The lights she brought with her had certainly seen better days and would not have been out of place in old Ebenezer Scrooge’s Counting House in Victorian England! The bulbs of blue, green, red and yellow were huge about the same size as the one hanging from the ceiling rose in our front room! And the flex that strung them all together was like thick, brown string, frayed and very dangerous looking indeed. And night after night as they snaked across and around our usually dull and lifeless Christmas tree I often wondered if they would short circuit and send the whole house up in flames. But those lights as unsafe as they were did so light up our lives at that time and brought with them some welcome Christmas cheer. And standing at that bus stop all those years ago gazing at that beautifully lit Christmas tree I can still remember the excitement, the wonder and the expectancy of Christmas building up inside me. Today it is so very different isn’t it? Christmas lights are not only affordable but are displayed just about everywhere e.g. inside and outside the home, in shopping malls, high streets, garden centres, along seaside promenades and even high up on the jibs of cranes! And this annual feast of Christmas illuminations is intended to create an atmosphere of celebration, warmth, fun and shared enjoyment. The simple medium of light is able to say so much that is unspoken e.g. welcome, come inside, stay a while, and make yourself at home. And many people will be using the light displays they put up in and around their homes this Christmas as a means of raising money for charity. And this year for the first time Linda and I will be joining with others at the Cathedral on December 4th when the Tree of Light will be switched on in remembrance of loved-ones who have died. At Christmas be celebrate the birth of Jesus the light of the world which is a wonderful metaphor for the glorious entry of God into human experience. But as light is not pure white but a spectrum of colours this reminds us that God too is “colourful” and welcoming. And so this Christmas as we light up our homes and communities with coloured lights may the light we share with others carry abroad the message of the angels who themselves, bathed in the splendour of heavenly light, proclaimed to terrified shepherds that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Jesus, the Saviour of the world whose light has come to brighten up our darkness. Jesus, God’s solution to human waywardness and failure.
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Jesus, born to illuminate the pathway to God, give dignity to the unlovely, peace to the tormented, wholeness to the sick and comfort to the sad and sorrowful. This is the good news of Christmas that God is not dull but “switched on” and available. And so on behalf of Linda and myself may I wish all our readers both on-line and through the pages of this magazine a very happy Christmas. May the peace of God surround you, the love of God enfold you and the “colourful” light of Christ cheer you and shine upon you.
In Jesus’ name
Derek Marsh December 2007
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