Christmas: Us?

 

Where does God’s light beckon us?

The light that beckoned Mary has given us The Magnificat, a hymn of praise that leads on to song of radical social justice.

The light that beckoned the Magi led them on a journey to something new.

The light that beckoned the Shepherds offered them encounter and affirmation, the like of which they had probably never experienced.

The light that beckons us….fill in gaps and complete the sentence.

The unifying factor in all the biblical stories is that this beckoning light led to Jesus, the Light of the World.  It shone not so much on an idea but on a person, a life and a story.

This is the light that takes me to Jesus and his life affirming presence with us.  The Incarnation.

I love the story of Washington Roebling, the architect New York’s Brooklyn Bridge.  Its design was considered a triumph in 1870 and it made Roebling one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the city.  The bridge’s expanse was so long that the pylons holding it up had to go much deeper than usual.  So the men were submerged below the river in something called caissons, a watertight chamber filled with compressed air.  There they dug, and even exploded rocks.  In these caissons men got sick with Caisson Fever, or even died from flooding or fire.  Washington Roebling spent the first two years of the construction of the bridge down in the caissons with his men.  Not behind a desk but in the caissons.  He never asked them to do what he himself wasn’t prepared to do.  In the end his health failed too – he gave his all.

God’s Incarnation in the Lord Jesus Christ and expressed today through the gracious presence of The Holy Spirit with us daily, makes life possible and makes life a joy.  God comes among us, that’s the promise of Advent, the centre of Christmas and our experience each new day.

In his Advent hymn, There’s a light upon the mountains, Henry Burton has these beautiful lines at the end of verse 3:
but his angels here are human,
not the shining hosts above,
and the drum beats of his army
are the drum beats of our love.

God’s light is shining now and calls for our response – for the drum beats of our love.