The Light Broker
You, Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light. Psalm 18:28
Insight
There’s a movement happening right now circling social media that encourages people to redecorate the outside of their homes with Christmas lights in an effort to battle the isolation and gloom of this current quarantine we’re facing. Essentially, the idea is to bring back the warmth, tenderness, and love that the holiday season, filled with its twinkling lights, makes us feel.
During the month of December, we illuminate our homes and our neighborhoods to prepare our hearts for the coming birth of Christ. To celebrate a joyous moment with unity and beauty.
Isn’t it interesting that when the going gets tough people look to light as a source of strength? Like somehow this singular act of lighting up our homes could unite us and fill us with hope.
Scripture is littered with references to light and the power that light holds, so it’s really no surprise that we easily recognize it. God designed it that way. The way rays from the sun provide vitamin D that helps our bodies and even more majestically help the plants and crops grow. In the summer it’s easy to find plants that contort and stretch their limbs just to reach into the sunny spots of the yard. In the beginning, when there was nothing but a void, God created the light as the first source of power.
And then to balance that power He created the darkness. These two are always juxtaposed. We equate the light as good and the darkness as bad. Bad things happen under the cloak of darkness, while truth and justice prevail when swept into the light. Something as simple as the words we choose “to shed light on something” help us understand the difference between these two.
John 1:5 says, “And this living expression is the light that bursts through gloom. The light that darkness could not diminish.” Here John parallels Christ with light, “the light of all mankind,” he calls him. The one so powerful to drive out darkness. Just a few verses before this we find one of the most well-known scriptures, John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
If Jesus is the light, more powerful than any darkness, and Jesus lives inside of us, then we too have that same power, power enough to push back this present darkness and illuminate our neighborhoods. We don’t need an external source to bring joy into our homes and communities when the most powerful light in all creation lives inside of us!
These past few weeks have been difficult and there are likely more tough days and weeks ahead. I say we shed some light on them and together become the collective light our communities need. We have the power to bring that warmth, that comfort, that sense of awe and wonder, the magic that Christmas time brings here and now. It doesn’t require more electricity, it requires a deeper well of Christ working through us.
Be light. Offer light. Share light.
Our prayer is this, “Lord, keep my lamp burning,” as we strain to find the goodness and sweetness that each day brings. May we share that with those around us. May we be lights that cannot be diminished, holding on to light together.
Reflection
How can you offer light to those around you? Come up with one way today and do it!
Prayer
Father, help us become brokers of light during a very new and difficult time in this world. Give us the courage and strength to lead with hearts overflowing with Your love, compassion, and mercy to those around us. Create in us a community who shine brightly and offer the hope and peace only You can bring. We love You, Father. Be with us. Be with those who are hurting and suffering. Guard our thoughts and our minds as we process the quickly changing circumstances we’re facing. In you, Lord, we place our steadfast trust. Amen.
PC3 writer Kaitlyn Boscaljon wrote today’s devotional.
