Presented to River Street Cafe, 16 December 2016
Read John 1:5-9
This upcoming Wednesday is the Winter
Solstice. The Winter Solstice is the darkest day of the year. There is less light
and more darkness than any other day of the year. Sometimes I think that our
world or our country is near its own Winter Solstice where it is only spiritual
darkness all of the time.
Crime in Canada is as high as it ever was. In
our own neighbourhood death and violent crimes seem to occur weekly
if not more regularly. According to the CCVF, it is so bad in our country now
that many people are losing any faith in the authorities’ ability to stop even
violent crime and so in many cases charges aren’t even being filed anymore.
Even economic crime is on the rise in Canada with Reuters reporting that 56
percent of companies surveyed (more than half of them) reported falling prey to
white-collar crime. And – of course – near the darkest night there is
pornography, which horribly is North America’s most lucrative pastime. In the US,
pornography revenue –as we have said before- is more than all money made from
professional football, baseball and basketball combined. The money made by US
pornography exceeds the combined revenues of all their major TV networks (6.2
billion) Child pornography alone generates $3 billion annually. We are near to
that societal Winter Solstice.
And then there is war: Did you know that in
the ten years after the Soviet Union fell, there were people dead from more
wars than from the whole century before? – And in that century, we had both WWI and WWII. The wars keep
rolling and the blood keeps flowing as we invade country after country after
country. The nights seem very long and dark indeed. The days seem near to a
societal Winter Solstice.
During this Advent for these devotional
thoughts as well as in the sermons I have preached, we have spoken a lot about
social justice. That is a key element of Advent. Celebrating and waiting for
deliverance from all the darkness around us.
This Wednesday is the darkest day of the
year but do you know what that means for Thursday? Thursday we will see a
little more light. And Friday, Friday we will see a little more light; and
Saturday and Sunday, and after Christmas, more light and more light.
The Gospel of John speaks about Jesus as
the light of the world. Jesus, when he came 2000+ years ago, he came as light
into our dark world and though we may still be near a societal solstice, the
darkness can not overcome the light and eventually the light of the goodness of
Christ will fill the whole world. Just as we celebrate Jesus coming in a
manger, we look forward to his return on a cloud very soon and the Bible
promises that when he does return there will be no more darkness. Revelation 22:5:
“There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the
light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign
for ever and ever.” Jesus is the light of the world.
When that day comes there will be no more
darkness but until then as Christians, we are called to reflect Jesus’ light
while we await his ultimate return; how can you and I do that for our neighbours
who may still be groping around in our society’s darkness?
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