Christmas
Eve Candle Lighting Reflection
I
read a Christmas editorial in the Washington Post that talked about churches
that are struggling with declining attendance and resources and yet still
typically find their sanctuaries filled to overflowing on Christmas Eve. The
column discussed the many reasons that people aren’t going to church like they
once did. It mentioned that the fastest growing religion in America isn’t
really a religion at all. It’s something called the “Nones,” those who are
religiously disaffiliated and check “none of the above” on surveys about religion.
Yet
despite this growing religious disaffiliation, despite the lack of cultural
encouragement to be part of some faith community, despite the rapidly growing
numbers in our society who view church as unnecessary, people show up in droves
on Christmas Eve.
Many
attribute this to nostalgia or the desire to maintain some family traditions
around Christmas, but the columnist suggested that it could be something else. While
the lure of church may be nonexistent for many, there still remains a longing,
a hunger for the transcendent, for something more than “a society defined
solely by self-interest and calculation, by the visible, the measurable and the
tangible.”[1]
I
can certainly see why Christmas would be especially alluring for those longing
for the transcendent. Christmas insists that the God whose speech called forth
the wonders of Creation is a God of life and light. Christmas speaks of a
light, a goodness that cannot be overcome by the darkness, the pain, the
selfishness, the hatred, the greed, the evil of the world. The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
Christmas
also insists that the transcendent, the light, the creative force of God, is
not simply something far away out there. It moves toward us, seeking us. A
child is born. The Word became flesh and lived among us. Emmanuel, God with
us.
But
God’s move toward us demands a response. God’s move is an invitation for us to
move toward God. God has taken the first step in a divine dance we are invited
to join, a dance of goodness, love, and self-giving; a dance of generosity, caring,
and hope.
The
God who comes toward us, who comes as a child born for us, invites us to become
bearers of light and hope in a world too often filled with darkness and
hopelessness. And the empty cross of the risen Christ reminds us that the
deepest and most malevolent darkness cannot triumph over God’s love.
(Lower
candles and shield the light.)
And
so, in the midst of the world’s darkness, stand and hold your light high. Let it
shine. Carry the light with you as you go. Bear the light of Christ into the
world. Let it shine against all that is dark and frightening and hate-filled.
Go to be light bearers in a world that is longing for light.
[1]
E.J. Dionne, Jr. “Churchgoers, cut the
‘Chreasters’ some slack” The Washington
Post, December 23, 2018
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