At this time of year it is often dark when I arrive home. Walking is very important to me but walking in the dark means I have to make myself visible to vehicles on the road, which means I wear a fluorescent jacket and carry a torch. As I walk over Pickwell Down, near my home, I am able to see Lundy Island brooding in the distance with its lighthouses at each end, flashing in turn. As I look westward, I am also able to see the light on Hartland Point warning shipping of the perilous rocks which reach out into the sea, ready to snatch at an unsuspecting vessel passing by.
Light then is vital to ensure our safety in the dark, but it is so much more. Light is literally vital to our very existence. When a meteor hit the earth at the time of the dinosaurs, one theory states that much of the extinction it caused was because the light from the sun was blocked by particles which hung in the atmosphere. I am sure I don’t need to tell anyone who grows plants that light is so important for propagation.
The Bishop of Plymouth, Bishop Nick, has described the times during the second World War, when many people from Plymouth would leave the city to spend the might on Dartmoor and only venture home as light broke on the horizon and the bombing raids were over. As light flooded during the dawn, the bombers were no longer safe to discharge their deadly cargo.
Christmas is a time when we remember the return of light at the darkest time of the year. For Christians this light is the light of Jesus Christ, born as a baby to live among us and show us the way to God. As John writes in his Gospel, ‘The true light that gives light to every person was coming into the world’.
I pray your Christmas will be a celebration of light, love and joy.
Revd Susan