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And how timely it is! I rose early this morning and read poetry by the 17th century Welsh poet, Henry Vaughan, who has a number of works concerning Christmas.
Here’s a selection of one:
But stay : what light is that doth stream
And drop here in a gilded beam?
It is Thy star runs page, and brings
Thy tributary Eastern kings.
Lord! grant some light to us, that we
May with them find the way to Thee!
Behold what mists eclipse the day!
How dark it is! Shed down one ray,
To guide us out of this sad night,
And say once more, “Let there be light.”
Vaughan’s poems appeal to me, for they’re not the rose-tinted glasses of sentimentality that our culture use to view the nativity. He sees the darkness in the world, and even more jarringly (to modern readers), the darkness in our own souls.
John reminds us that this light that came into the world was not widely embraced:
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. (John 1:9-10)
The scientific fact is that a ray of light, when resisted by an object, will cast a shadow. This shadow on the wall of our living room is caused by the angel figurine on our armoire. But in the spiritual realm, the shadows are thrown by us, the resistant ones Jesus came to save.
This morning, I feel those shadows. In myself. And in the troubled world, eclipsed in the mists of violence, greed, obstinance and selfishness.
And yet, God’s light breaks through. Jesus, born to die and be raised anew, has come.
His ray can reach the most surprising places.
How we need your light, Lord! Shed down one ray,
To guide us out of this sad night,
And say once more, “Let there be light.” In our very souls.
Reader: No question for you today. Just a heartfelt prayer that you will have peace in the light of the Savior’s love this Christmas season.
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