Nativity

Today we had our yearly Nativity play by the younger members of our congregation aided by a few of the more elderly.

This year however it wasn’t so historically accurate. We had two female magi and no shepherds (partly due to the fact she forgot her lines but I believe it was because she felt it was too cold for her sheep to travel to the nave alter, I mean manger).

It was acted out this year through mime and rhyme, Joseph had a few cups of tea and we had the  Arch angel Gabriel and the star doing a mini version of “Heads, Shoulders, Knee and Toes”.

Yet ever year I think of what it would have been like that cold evening for the expectant parents: tired, weary, fearful yet I believe, ready. Bless Mary, the young girl, and from all accounts we’ve come to realise she may have been as young as 14, who accepted the role as Mother to the Saviour of the world.

Think about the same situation into our society today, let me break it down this way: a young mother unexpectedly pregnant, a young man thrust into fatherhood before he was thinking about it. We see it all the time, young parents, but we walk past them and, I think unintentionally sometimes, sneer or look down at them, without knowing their story, how can we do this to them and yet praise our Lord and light an Advent candle today for His mother Mary, who on the face of it, were in a very similar situation.

Light and darkness

During Advent I have been very aware of light.  These thoughts started with the Christmas lights in George Square, Glasgow.  As I waited to cross the road on the way to work, I realised that I could see the coloured lights on the edge of the square.  They did not make much sense, like the cliche they looked like the back of the tapestry, just a mixture of colour without any pattern.  To me they looked like the false lights of Christmas, set up well in advance of Christmastide, with no idea of Advent as a time of waiting and expectation.  Missing the point.

But I became more aware of light generally as the days went by.  The days last weekend, when the sun did not appear to rise above the horizon.  Monday when the sun bright, but low.  The darkness of the evenings as I make my way home.

Thoughts of what the Bible says about light and darkness: The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear?  (Ps 27:1) 

The central thought came last Thursday evening as I sat in a candlelit church:  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it (Jn 1:5).  In the darkness aware of the light all around knowing that night is not dark to God, we wait again for the celebration of the coming of Christ, who is with us as we wait.

This light of Christ that is the true light.  Jesus said, ‘I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.’  (Jn 8:12)  The light that is worth the wait.