Welcome to the
North Wiltshire Methodist Circuit
Hands up all who know there is a restaurant in London where
you eat in total, pitch-darkness. As someone for whom shorter days and longer
nights always threaten a touch of SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), but not,
thankfully, to the point where the daily routine of life is significantly
disturbed, I will not be sampling this dining experience anytime soon. My source
for this information* is more positive. We both share the childhood memory of a
night-light, a small candle rather akin to today’s tea light, being placed in
our bedroom as we prepared to sleep. In her case the flame helped her
appreciate the intensity of the darkness which she embraced gladly. My sense of
isolation brought on by the quiet, and, yes, the surrounding gloom prompted my
parents to provide the welcome glow that to some small degree eased my
disquiet. So could light in the darkness working for both of our different
temperaments be a simple, human illustration of the Psalmist’s, the Bible
hymn-writer’s sense when, addressing God he declares, ….for darkness is as
light to you? (Psalm 139:12)
Bible readers are familiar
with the title, ‘Light of the world’ attached to Jesus in St John’s Gospel. Again
Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me
will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life’. (John 8:12) The
implication that darkness, in this way of thinking about how Jesus is with us, is
to be avoided or dispelled is clear. Yet for those who naturally welcome
the total blackness of a midnight sky unspoilt by intrusive, artificial light
from the earth or a full moon, this way of describing Jesus’ saving
relationship with humankind may not immediately hold the same power. But
whether you rejoice when spring brings extended daytime, or look forward to the
days ‘drawing in’ when you can retreat into the relative, snug anonymity of
winter (or both?), light and darkness seem to be necessary to each other, or
God is known in both.
Increasingly, looking back
and to the future, praying for the world of my near environment and
relationships, as well as the world at large, I become aware of my own failures
in love, and wonder at the grace of God-in-Christ to persist in calling me
through my weakness into life that accepts and defies the darkness. The truth
reveals itself, that the darkness of death will not snuff out the light of
God’s grace towards us all, God’s beloved children.
In the darkness God begins
the work of creation, (Genesis 1: 2), at the night the shepherds’ visual
senses are dazzled by the glory of angels bright against the darkened sky
announcing the coming of the Lord, the Light of the World in a gloomy stable,
and by the light of a star most startling and clear against the skies of night
the wise men from the East are led to the Lord’s humble abode. (Luke 2:
1-20, Matthew 2: 1-12). Today, like Nicodemus in the Bible who wanted to
talk to Jesus about faith and visited him under cover of darkness, (John
3:2), we are welcome at Jesus’ door however deep the gloom we perceive in
our own depths, circumstances and the world our dwelling. And my friends in
Christ who worship and adore his God and ours, our calling is to be light in
the darkness for all God’s children as we rejoice in the truth of Christmas,
God with us, and seek God’s realm of justice, kindness, humility for all.
* Catherine Bird ‘The
Divine Heart of Darkness – Finding God in the Shadows’ Sacristy Press 2017 p61)
Tony Barnes
Welcome to the
North Wiltshire Methodist Circuit
Hands up all who know there is a restaurant in London where you eat in total, pitch-darkness. As someone for whom shorter days and longer nights always threaten a touch of SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), but not, thankfully, to the point where the daily routine of life is significantly disturbed, I will not be sampling this dining experience anytime soon. My source for this information* is more positive. We both share the childhood memory of a night-light, a small candle rather akin to today’s tea light, being placed in our bedroom as we prepared to sleep. In her case the flame helped her appreciate the intensity of the darkness which she embraced gladly. My sense of isolation brought on by the quiet, and, yes, the surrounding gloom prompted my parents to provide the welcome glow that to some small degree eased my disquiet. So could light in the darkness working for both of our different temperaments be a simple, human illustration of the Psalmist’s, the Bible hymn-writer’s sense when, addressing God he declares, ….for darkness is as light to you? (Psalm 139:12)
Bible readers are familiar with the title, ‘Light of the world’ attached to Jesus in St John’s Gospel. Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life’. (John 8:12) The implication that darkness, in this way of thinking about how Jesus is with us, is to be avoided or dispelled is clear. Yet for those who naturally welcome the total blackness of a midnight sky unspoilt by intrusive, artificial light from the earth or a full moon, this way of describing Jesus’ saving relationship with humankind may not immediately hold the same power. But whether you rejoice when spring brings extended daytime, or look forward to the days ‘drawing in’ when you can retreat into the relative, snug anonymity of winter (or both?), light and darkness seem to be necessary to each other, or God is known in both.
Increasingly, looking back and to the future, praying for the world of my near environment and relationships, as well as the world at large, I become aware of my own failures in love, and wonder at the grace of God-in-Christ to persist in calling me through my weakness into life that accepts and defies the darkness. The truth reveals itself, that the darkness of death will not snuff out the light of God’s grace towards us all, God’s beloved children.
In the darkness God begins the work of creation, (Genesis 1: 2), at the night the shepherds’ visual senses are dazzled by the glory of angels bright against the darkened sky announcing the coming of the Lord, the Light of the World in a gloomy stable, and by the light of a star most startling and clear against the skies of night the wise men from the East are led to the Lord’s humble abode. (Luke 2: 1-20, Matthew 2: 1-12). Today, like Nicodemus in the Bible who wanted to talk to Jesus about faith and visited him under cover of darkness, (John 3:2), we are welcome at Jesus’ door however deep the gloom we perceive in our own depths, circumstances and the world our dwelling. And my friends in Christ who worship and adore his God and ours, our calling is to be light in the darkness for all God’s children as we rejoice in the truth of Christmas, God with us, and seek God’s realm of justice, kindness, humility for all.
* Catherine Bird ‘The Divine Heart of Darkness – Finding God in the Shadows’ Sacristy Press 2017 p61)
Tony Barnes