This post, by Heather Weir, is a reflection on the First Sunday of Advent.
Last weekend I was part of a team that decorated the Walmer theatre for Advent and Christmas. On Sunday we lit the first candle of advent, the candle of Hope, reminding us that we look forward to the coming of Jesus that we remember at Christmas, and the coming of Jesus that is still in the future, when God’s Kingdom will be complete and fully present.
True confession time – I have a sort of ambivalent feelings about Christmas decorations. Lots of them are nice, and usually the lights are pretty. I don’t decorate my own apartment, not because lights and decorations aren’t nice, but they take energy to put up and space to store, neither of which I am willing to give to them.
But Christmas lights, other people’s Christmas lights, Christmas lights in the mall and seen walking down the street, these Christmas lights point me to Jesus. Why? I will try to tell you.
Once, a long time ago, I was sitting in a mall in Toronto that no longer exists. It was a bustling place at the time. I had a hot chocolatey-coffee drink and was sitting at a table in the Second Cup looking into the area where the mall Santa hung out for photo opportunities. I was grumpy about the decorations because I thought they were up far too early. I am not sure why I decided to talk to Jesus about the lights and decorations, but I did. I started off something like “Well Jesus, it is your birthday people are celebrating here, do you even like the decorations? I’m not sure I do, I think some of them are kind of tacky.” To my surprise, Jesus liked the lights, though the whole thing was possibly a bit over done. But it was over done in a funny kind of way, so instead of being grumpy about the lights, talking to Jesus about them, and taking the time to listen for a response meant I ended up taking delight in the lights with Jesus.
This experience has stuck with me. So when Christmas lights go up I am reminded to talk to Jesus about them. I don’t always do this, but when I do, I still sense the delight of Jesus in even the tackiest of displays. Christmas lights shine light and hope into the December darkness as Jesus is the light and hope of even the darkest corners of the world.