Advent Re-Lit

Wednesday for me is the longest day, and Thursday starts with a Bible Study group at 7am.  This means I leave the house in darkness this time of year, before my kids leave for the bus stop, all of us before 7am. 

This time of year, it seems like a long of long nights and dark days—literally. 

This week of Advent, the first week, is always the one that seems most poignant.  One flickering candle shining against all the darkness.  One candle.  That’s all. 

13 months ago, as my family and I were relocating to South Arkansas we received the gift of “extra time” when our movers were delayed past our original delivery date.  We spent some of that time in some caverns in western Virginia.  Underground, we were again reminded of the power of one-match-power in an otherwise entirely dark cavern.  In a large underground room, one match lit up everyone’s faces, even in some cases, as much as 30 or 50 feet away from the matchlight! 

I imagine each of us with at least as much power, as we individually seek to follow Jesus.  And as all of us set forth to travel to Bethlehem, to proverbially worship the newborn King, our lights coalesce into one large mass of pilgrimage. 

Advent, re-lit. 

On these dark mornings, I think of that kind of following coming together to change the world. 

What images and ideas are helping you to change the world, these dark days? 

© Rev. David Stipp-Bethune; Teaching Elder and Pastor, The First Presbyterian Church of El Dorado, Arkansas