Rev. Lin Smalec Salem Church, Waynesboro, PA
DISCOVER THE LIGHT OF CHRISTMAS
Third Sunday of Advent
11 December 2005
One thing I hate about this time of year is how dark it is. For some of us, we go to work in the dark, and come home in the dark. I recently read a news story about a little village in Austria named Rattenberg. It is “the smallest town in Austria, and getting smaller each year. The town has lost 20 percent of its population in the past two decades, and as of 2005 had only 440 residents. The reason? Darkness. Rattenberg is nestled behind Rat Mountain—a 3,000-foot obstruction that blocks out the sun from November to February.” Can you imagine that? No sunlight at all for 4 months of the year! “But thanks to some clever new technology, the town’s situation is about to get a little brighter. An Austrian company ... has come up with a plan to bring sunshine into the darkness by installing 30 heliostat mirrors onto the mountainside. The mirrors will grab light from reflectors on the sunny-side of the mountain and shine it back into the town.” The cost of this project? $2.4 million dollars! But if it works, it will be worth every penny, and will bring hope to the 60 other Alpine communities who suffer the same darkness every winter! (1)
One of the most important themes of Advent and Christmas is light - God’s light, sent into our world in and through His Son, Jesus. The Light of Christmas banishes the darkness of our frozen souls and illuminates the very love of God. And we find the theme of light within the story of Narnia.
In chapter 1 of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”, when Lucy first stumbles through the wardrobe into the land of Narnia, what does she see there, besides snow and dark tree trunks? Light! She sees light glowing ahead of her, through the dark woods. Listen to how C. S. Lewis describes this scene: “[Lucy] began to walk forward, crunch-crunch over the snow and through the wood toward the other light. In about ten minutes she reached it and found it was a lamppost. As she stood looking at it, wondering why there was a lamppost in the middle of a wood and wondering what to do next, she heard a pitter patter of feet coming toward her.” And of course, in the light of the lamppost is where Lucy first meets the faun, Mr. Tumnus, and begins her adventures in Narnia.
Now when Edmund first enters Narnia, it’s interesting to note that he does not seem to see the lamppost - he does see light, but it is the light of the sun, rising in the pale blue wintry sky (chapter 3). Ironically, it is the White Witch who points out the lamppost to Edmund, when he says he doesn’t know the way back to his own country. “That’s easy”, she says, “Do you see that lamp?” and she points to the lamppost - “Straight on, beyond that, is the way to the World of Men.” (chapter 4)
And, as those of you who have finished the book and/or seen the movie know, one day many years later, when the four children are the kings and queens of Narnia, they come upon the lamppost once again as they are hunting the mysterious white stag. And the lamppost lights the way back to their own world (chapter 17).
In this first book of the Chronicles of Narnia, we never learn about the origin of the lamppost. That story is told in the sixth book of the series, “The Magician’s Nephew”, which some sets of the Narnia series use as the first book, because it tells the story of the creation of Narnia. In that book, a piece of a lamppost from our own world is brought into another world by Queen Jadis, who we know as the White Witch. Just as Aslan is bringing Narnia to life, Jadis throws the piece of lamppost at him, and, like a seed, it falls to the ground and begins to grow. It eventually becomes the lamppost which shines in Narnia eternally, day and night (3, chapters 9 and 15).
So what do we know about the lamppost in Narnia? Three things - it was there from the beginning of the creation of that world, it shines eternally, and it lights the way between worlds - between the world of Narnia and our own world.
It is no accident that C. S. Lewis, in crafting this wondrous tale of Narnia, uses the image of light in this fashion. I imagine that he had several verses of scripture in mind:
From the book of Genesis - “In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness
covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the
face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there
was light. And God saw that the light was good...” (Genesis 1:1-4a,
NRSV)
And from the Gospel of John - “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning
with God. All things came into being through him, and without him
not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was
life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” (John 1:1-5, NRSV)
And perhaps he thought of these words from the Psalms - “The Lord is
my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1, NRSV) and “Your Word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105, NRSV).
God’s first creation in our world was light, and that light was created through the Word of God - not only the spoken word, as we saw in Genesis, but the Word with a capital “W”, which is the translation of a very special Greek word, “Logos”. The Logos was understood by the Greek and Roman world to describe the eternal principle of order in the universe, an expression of the mind of God that controls all things.
The earliest Christians very quickly understood the Greek concept of Logos to describe Jesus Christ. The Word - Jesus Christ - was intimately involved with the creation of the world - and in the Word - in Jesus Christ - is eternal life. It is that eternal life that is the light of the world, that brings light to all people. Think about our world for a moment. Can anything grow without light? We need light to live, don’t we? That’s why the people in those alpine villages in Austria are willing to spend millions of dollars to get more sunlight. It is light that reveals, light that guides and light that brings growth to all living things.
Not only is light a symbol of Jesus and all that he brings to us, but light is also a symbol of God’s word, the Scriptures. It is the Spirit-breathed words of the Bible that show us the way and that light the path of our lives. Throughout Scripture, light is a strong symbol of God’s love and power, for God’s light shines out in the darkness of a sinful world, the frozen darkness of sin and sickness, of despair and death, of corruption and hell.
And it’s no coincidence that light plays an important part in the story of our Savior’s birth. Many of the prophecies surrounding the coming of the Messiah speak of the light he will bring:
From Isaiah, chapter 60, we hear, “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.” (60:1-3)
And from Isaiah, chapter 9, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness--on them light has shined.” (9:2)
As Isaiah prophesied, nations did indeed come to the light of Jesus - at the time of his birth, he was visited by wise men from the east - as the Gospel of Matthew tells us: “In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.”
(Matthew 2:1-2)
The Light of Christmas is Jesus, who comes into our world as a baby and grows to be our Savior. The Light of Christmas is an expression of the love of God.
So the lamppost of Narnia, which shines eternally, could be a symbol of the Word of God, Jesus Christ, who shines the light of life into the darkness of our sinful world. And just as Jesus stands between our own world and the world of God, the world of eternal life, so does the lamppost of Narnia stand between the worlds, lighting the way.
We are invited in this third week of Advent to discover the Light of Christmas, to discover the light that Jesus Christ brings. We are then called to make that light our own, and to keep that light shining in our own lives. You see, Jesus himself said to his disciples, “[L]et your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works, and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)
This is a concept that is sometimes a challenge for us. In fact I recently read about a little girl who came home from Sunday School right after studying this verse. She asked her mother, when she repeated the verse, what it meant. Her mom said, "Well, it means that when you are good and kind and thoughtful and obedient, you are letting Christ’s light shine in your life before all who know you." The very next Sunday in Sunday School, the little girl got in a bit of a fracas with another student and created somewhat of an uproar--to such an extent that the Sunday School teacher had to go and find her mother to get her settled down a bit in the class. Her mother was concerned when she got to the classroom and said, "Sweetie, don’t you remember about letting your light shine for the Lord before [others]?" The girl blurted out, "Mom, I have blowed myself out!" (4)
Ah, dear ones, in our human weakness it is all to easy to blow out the light of Jesus within us, to let that light die. Praise be to God, He keeps His loving light always burning, always available to us to recharge our own light, to guide us and give us life. This year, in the midst of all the Christmas hustle and bustle, don’t forget to reach out to the Lord, and discover anew the glorious Light of Christmas!
Let us pray:
O Lord God, in the darkness of this winter season, in the darkness of our sinful souls, we need Your Christmas Light - the light of the Word - Your Son, Jesus Christ. Shine, Jesus, shine - shine into the dark places of our hearts. Shine into every corner of our being. Just as the lamppost of Narnia stood as a beacon between the worlds, we pray that we will see you clearly, Lord, as you stand strong, shining your powerful light of love into our world.
O Father God, we pray that Your loving Light of Christmas will shine brighter than any Christmas tree decoration, brighter than Rudolph’s nose, brighter than the lights of the stores and shops that tempt us to spend and spend and spend. May Your Light of Christmas shine forth as did the star of Bethlehem, to lead us to the side of the babe in the manger, our Lord, Jesus.
We pray these things in the name of the Lion of Judah - the Promised Savior - Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
RESOURCES:
1) George Jahn, "Mirrors to Banish Town’s Winter Darkness," Associated Press (11-20-05) cited on PreachingToday.com
2) C. S. Lewis, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe © 1950 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd.
3) C. S. Lewis, The Magician’s Nephew © 1955 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd.
4) W. Frank Harrington, "The Love That Brought Him," Preaching Today, Tape No. 51, cited on PreachingToday.com.
