The Light Of The Season, The Light We Are

Christmas is a wonderful time of year! I’m enjoying the beautiful and amazing things we surround ourselves with in the Christmas season, are you?

I enjoy the nativity scenes, decorated trees, crimson poinsettias, and beautiful wreaths. Most of all, I see businesses, homes, and churches are festooned with Lights! All of these things serve remind us of the Christmas story.

There are possible historic reasons as to why Light plays such a big role in what we surround ourselves with in the holiday season. Predating Christianity was Yule rituals involving light. These rituals occurred because some people feared the dying of the sun at the time of the Winter Solstice.

Light is one of the most universal symbols. It denotes the realm of the Divine, and spirituality. Light also represents illumination, intelligence, knowledge, and understanding.

In John 9:5, Jesus said: “I am the light of the world.”

In Matthew 5:14-16, he also said: “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men.”

Perhaps this “Light” of the season is something we all possess inwardly. Perhaps, within each of us, there is a spark of the Divine.

St. Teresa of Ávila wrote: “Christ has no body but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes with which he looks with compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.”

Christmas, a time when the birth of Jesus is celebrated, could also be viewed as celebration of our individual inner Light.

Certain elements of the Christmas story could symbolically represent aspects of ourselves. It may sound a bit blasphemous, but please stay with me.

This idea of union with the Divine is not some new concept, but has been the territory of mystics from many faith traditions over thousands of years. From John the Baptist and Paul the Apostle to Rumi and C.S. Lewis, to name a few.

The poet Tennyson says of God, "Closer is He then breathing, and nearer than hands and feet."

This information gives us new ways of looking at the Christmas story. It is the story of the birth of Jesus. We can also understand it as the story of the potential within all people, and within ourselves. If this is so, it’s quite a responsibility for each of us, is it not? When we consider the Christmas story in this manner, it give us a lot to think about:

Do we possess the compassion of the innkeeper that allowed Mary and Joseph to stay in their barn? If so, in what ways do we act with compassion?

Do we possess the love of Mary? How do we express that love?

Do we possess the understanding of Joseph? How do we use that knowledge?

Do we possess the determination of the magi? If so, what does that look like outwardly?

Do we possess the communication skills of the angels? What implications does that have in expressing our thoughts, feelings, and ideas?

Do we possess the peace of the sleeping Christ child? If so, how we peacemakers in our relationships?

If we have the enthusiasm of the shepherds, what kind of energy do we show up in the world with?

If we possess all this amazing nativity scene potential within, how do we care for ourselves? Do we treat ourselves, our bodies, as if they are holy ground?

Most of all, if we possess the light of the Christmas star…….how do we shine our Light in the world?

Let us celebrate all the lights of the season, including the Light that we are.

I thank you for reading, and be blessed this day.