Last night at the Christmas Eve service I was surprised by a wave of emotion. I’m a sap who frequently tears-up during movies and at Hallmark commercials, so waves of emotion are not new to me. But this one caught me off guard.
All day I had been looking forward to the evening’s events, to be spent sitting with my children and in-laws while my wife accompanied the hymns and carols on the organ. I had prepared a big pot of potato soup, left simmering in the Crockpot to be enjoyed on the rainy night after the service. Each year I enjoy watching my children become overwhelmed by the various events of the Christmas season. Sometimes the Christmas Eve service is an interruption into the family fun. But this year we had prepared everyone for the afternoon and evening. We traveled home from my mother’s house, cleaned up a bit before Karen’s parents arrived to go with us to the service. It was a busy, but fun afternoon.
I can’t tell time. Clocks still baffle me. They arrive at appointed hours much sooner than does my internal clock. As a result, I am always tardy or downright late. Today was no exception. My wife’s family is always annoyingly prompt. When we finally got to the church, the congregation was already singing the First Noel. Sadly, we had missed my wife’s organ prelude. The music is usually a highpoint for me. But what got me this year was a candle – a simple candle.
Each week of Advent, families come up during the morning service to read appropriate scripture, lead in a responsive reading, and then light the designated candle in the Advent wreath. The wreath was regally seated atop of a sturdy brass stand, elevated enough for everyone in the congregation to see, placed between the podium and the pews. Encircled by evergreens, each candle symbolizes one of the traditional meanings of Christmas – Hope, Love, Joy, and Peace. Each week a different candle is illuminated moving around the circle until all are lighted the Sunday before Christmas. On Christmas Eve the large white Center candle is lighted.
Last night I was having trouble following along in the order of service because Karlie absconded my bulletin to use as a doodle pad. She had systematically worked through all available paper – the envelopes and notepaper stuck into the back of the pews. When she saw the woodcut of the angel printed on the cover of my order of worship, she asked to see it. I never got it back. Thus, I was left to follow the service by reading over Karlie’s pencil as she decorated my upside-down bulletin. Every so often she would motion to one of her new drawings and look to me for a nod and smile of approval.
When the family got up to light the Advent candle I was not really paying attention. They read a few scriptures and somehow I caught a few words that grabbed my attention, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who live in a land of deep darkness – on them a light has shined.” (Isaiah 9:2). As the words echoed in the fog of my consciousness, I fumbled for the program, trying to get Karlie to let me see the responsive reading. She was not interested in sharing. I gave up just as the family was attempting to light the center candle, the Christ candle. I was seated on the isle. I looked down the corridor of pews to the wreath stand. As the tiny flicker touched the wick of the candle, I gasp.
The light had come. Emmanuel, God is with us.
Though the lights throughout the sanctuary were lit, the wreath seemed to illuminate the entire room. My eyes filled with tears as I thought, “It is complete, finished; THIS is the meaning of Christmas. The light has come. In this helpless tiny baby we find the hope of the world. Through him we find the possibility for hope, love, joy, and peace.” Justice now has a new face, the unexpected powerless, dependant visage of a newborn baby. We look to power and might – politicians and armies – to enforce peace, but this baby shows us that peace comes through humility, powerlessness, and reliance upon the Divine to accomplish the mystical reality of peace in unexpected, even impossible ways.
As people around the world pause today – Christmas Day – may many realize the pregnant truth of the moment; that the birth of Jesus, the light of the world, may give birth to hope, love, joy, peace, and justice in our lives and in our world!
Light a candle today and remember - the light has come!
