More Than a Candle

John 1:4,5 & 9

"In Him was life and that life was the light of men.

The Light shines in the darkness, 

but the darkness has not understood it...

The true Light that gives light to every man

was coming into the world."

People both here and back in the US keep asking me what is the most difficult adjustment we have had to make since moving to Germany.  Lately my answer has been quite simple – “It’s been hard to get used to all the darkness.”  People here understand exactly what I mean.  In fact they have told me that this is the hardest time of the year to move to Germany.  The weather is mostly cool and cloudy.  On many, many days there is an on again, off again drizzle.  In addition the days are very short right now and the nights are very long.  The sun is barely up at 8 in the morning and its well on its way to setting by 4 p.m. After living all these years in Texas where you have sunshine and blue skies almost every day, this has been hard to get used to.  But I am told, this is simply the way things are in Frankfurt in November and December.

The other day, while sharing this with one of the members at their home, they shared with me something very interesting.  They said, “That’s why candles are so important in Germany.  You’ll notice that we sat down to share cookies and tea, that we also lit a candle.  We always do this.  In this dark time of the year, the light of a candle cheers the spirit.  It brings us warmth and comfort.  Light after all is a symbol of life.”  Wow, I thought, what a great custom… to light a candle on your table in the dead of winter and be reminded that the darkness will not last forever.  The light and new life of spring will return.

Isn’t that what we are getting ready to celebrate on the 24^th and 25^th of December?  Isn’t that exactly what God has done for us?  Only He has lit more than a candle for us!  Listen to the Scriptures.  Some 600 years before our Savior’s birth, Isaiah wrote of that event, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”  John writes of Christ in the first chapter of his Gospel, “In Him was life and that life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not understood it.”   A couple of verses later John would call Jesus “the true light that gives light to every man…” 

We live in a world made dark by our sin – by depression, by hurtful words and deeds, by the grief of death and more.  At this time of the year, when so many are told and expected to be “merry,” the darkness is made even deeper.  After all, we cannot dispel the darkness of sin just because someone tells us “Be Merry!”   That’s why God lit His eternal candle… really more than a candle in that manger in Bethlehem.    In the darkness this week, He invites to gather around that manger…to meet again His son Jesus who is the Light of the world… the Light that brings us forgiveness, hope and life… the Light that death tried to snuff out of the cross… the Light the darkness could not, indeed will not ever put out.

As we were sitting there at that table learning about candles in Germany, Steven added another bit of information.  He said, “Yes, where I stayed in Germany, Pastor Anwand and his family were always lighting a candle at night.  And whenever we moved to a different part of the house, they took the candle with us.”  Lets do that too.  God has given us His light in that manger in Bethlehem.   Where ever we go in life, lets take His light with us so that others may know the hope, the joy, the peace of God’s light given in Jesus.    Merry Christmas to you all!