“The Light” Colchester Federated Church, December 17, 2023, (John 1:6-8, 19-28) Third Sunday of Advent

As promised, once again during Advent, we encounter John the Baptist in the wilderness, preparing the way for Jesus.  Though the story is told differently in the Gospel according to John than we heard last Sunday in the Gospel according to Mark.  John speaks about John the Baptist poetically in the Gospel’s Prologue.  To expand just a bit upon what Sue read, we can hear, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness doesn’t extinguish the light.  A man named John was sent from God.  He came as a witness to testify concerning the light, so that through him everyone would believe in the light.  He himself wasn’t the light, but his mission was to testify concerning the light.  The true light that shines on all people was coming into the world.”[1]  The Prologue to the Gospel of John is often read in worship on Christmas Eve.  For instance, we will hear this text at our Christmas Eve Service of Lessons & Carols here at Colchester Federated Church.

Throughout the Gospel of John, we can read about light and darkness.  Jesus will even declare later in the Gospel, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me won’t walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”[2]  On the one hand, light is used as a metaphor throughout the Bible.  The Psalmist proclaimed, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?”[3]  Light as a metaphor in the Bible can even be broken down into specific usages concerning light in reference to knowledge, prosperity, righteousness, the sphere of the divine, announcements or messages, the heavenly Jerusalem, to be public or open, a torch or lamp, heavenly bodies, and to be a guide or teacher.  Light is sometimes used to refer to God or Jesus.[4]  Though the metaphor is complex.  Because sometimes light as a metaphor for God has been used to say that light is white is good and that dark is black is bad.  Given the -ics and -isms of our society, that can be disturbing, right? 

James Rowe Adams explored light as a biblical metaphor in From Literal to Literary: The Essential Reference Book of Biblical Metaphors.  Adams rightly points out that light as a metaphor changed from what it meant in Biblical times because we live in an industrial society.  With electricity, people like us are not often exposed to genuine darkness.  Just because it gets dark out at night, that doesn’t stop us from living our lives (including sometimes working when it’s dark out, right?)  We just turn on a light. 

Adams writes, “In ancient times, the sun was the primary source of light, and darkness severely restricted activity.”[5]  Maybe we modern people are missing out on some stuff because we work through the night (with electricity we, of course, can do so).  But does this make us not pay as much attention to the natural rhythms of the earth, of light and dark, of work and rest?  We even have a habit of lighting up the outdoors and the night sky.  So much so that astronomers sometimes lament that light pollution obscures the night sky for them to be able to go about their work of studying the heavens.  There are movements to have more Dark-Sky Parks throughout the world and communities may restrict outdoor lighting at night for all sorts of environmental reasons.

We would do well to remind ourselves that darkness can be good and holy too.  Jesus developed as a human being in the darkness of his mother Mary’s womb.  Jesus was laid in a tomb after his crucifixion and emerged from the darkness of the tomb to be the resurrected Christ Mary Magdalene encountered in the garden.  The darkness of the womb and the darkness of the tomb were both good and holy and necessary for Jesus.

One of my favorite poems from the poet David Whyte is called “Sweet Darkness.”  In that poem, David Whyte writes, “The dark will be your womb tonight.  The night will give you a horizon further than you can see.  You must learn one thing.  The world was made to be free in . . . Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet confinement of your aloneness to learn anything or anyone that does not bring you alive is too small for you.”[6]  The dark can be our womb.  The night can give us horizons further than we can see.  The darkness of night can help remind us that the world was made to be free in.

Recently, I was delighted to find a beautiful (and unique) Advent Candle Lighting liturgy that was written by Susan Lukey of the United Church of Canada.  The liturgy is called “The Dance of Dark and Light.”  The refrain that we have been hearing as a congregation throughout Advent is, “Light and dark, friends and companions.  One cannot exist without the other.”  I just love that.  She writes about the beautiful dance that takes place between dark and light.  Today members of our Discipleship Class read from this Advent liturgy, “Imagine the northern lights, greens and blues, oranges and reds, leaping and swirling across the dark northern sky.  Northern lights dancing as night falls and cold embraces the earth.  Darkness makes possible the wonder of northern lights.  Colourful displays held in the beauty of darkness.”[7]

If there’s one natural phenomenon that I have always wanted to witness in person, it’s the northern lights.  The northern lights (or aurora borealis) are a colorful display of light that can be seen in the night sky where we live in the northern hemisphere.  The auroras that occur in the southern hemisphere are the southern lights (or aurora australis).  Both the northern lights and southern lights are polar lights since they occur near the magnetic poles of the earth.  There was a good article about auroras from the Canadian Space Agency, and since the Advent Candle Lighting Liturgy came from the United Church of Canada it seemed on point to stick with the Canadians for sermon research and writing this week! 

Anyway, our Canadian friends explain, “Auroras occur when charged particles (electrons and protons) collide with gases in Earth’s upper atmosphere.  Those collisions produce tiny flashes that fill the sky with colourful light.  As billions of flashes occur in sequence, the auroras appear to move or ‘dance’ in the sky.  Earth’s magnetic field steers the charged particles towards the poles.  The shape of Earth’s magnetic field creates two auroral ovals above the North and South Magnetic Poles. That is why auroras occur almost every night in the northern sky, from August to May.”[8]  Maybe you knew all that.  Though knowing that what we are witnessing is collisions of electrons and protons with gases in the upper atmosphere of our earth and these collisions produce flashes that fill the night sky with colorful lights, isn’t that amazing?  Here’s the thing, it is the darkness of the night sky that makes it possible for you and I to witness the wonder of the northern lights (even if only in photos for now).  Light and dark, friends and companions, one cannot exist without the other.

Throughout Advent and as we will soon worship together on Christmas Eve, we hear about Jesus Christ as the light for all people.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not extinguish the light.  John the Baptist was not the light, but came to testify concerning the light.  The true light that shines on all people is coming into the world.  All of this is biblical and good and inspiring and holy.  Though let us not forget the beautiful dance that occurs between the dark and the light.  Light and dark, friends and companions, one cannot exist without the other.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.

[1] John 1:5-9, CEB.
[2] John 8:12, CEB.
[3] Psalm 27:1, NRSV.
[4] “Light,” James Rowe Adams, From Literal to Literary: The Essential Reference Book for Biblical Metaphors, Second Edition, pgs. 178-180.
[5] “Light,” James Rowe Adams, From Literal to Literary: The Essential Reference Book for Biblical Metaphors, pg. 180.
[6] David Whyte, “Sweet Darkness,” https://onbeing.org/poetry/sweet-darkness/
[7] “The Dance of Dark and Light” written by Susan Lukey. Used with permission. The United Church of Canada.
[8] “What are the northern lights?” The Canadian Space Agency, https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/astronomy/northern-lights/what-are-northern-lights.asp

Photo by Vincent Guth on Unsplash