I get inspiration for my writing from funny places! Today it is the toilet door at Holy Trinity church. “The light is not working. It may be dark. Sorry.”
In her book, Learning to Walk in the Dark, Barbara Brown Taylor talks about how uncomfortable we are with going through dark times. Even to be a little depressed. The temptation is often to blast the darkness with what she calls “artificial light.”
“Plaster on a smiley face. Sometimes the artificial light are the things we do to distract ourselves–alcohol, busy-work, zone out in front of a screen. But these artificial lights don’t produce much growth–they stunt it,” she writes.
We need an abiding light. Long ago the church decided to celebrate Christmas at the time of year with the least daylight to give us hope that when we experience dark times in our lives, we can trust that the darkness will not endure forever but that the daylight comes. The prologue to John’s gospel asserts that Christ is the light of the world that the darkness cannot overcome. So, part of what we do every year is rekindling our hope for better days with this truth.
God is working in the darkness. Remember Easter when the women went to the tomb while it was still dark. When they got there Jesus had already risen. God is working in the darkness. It does not last forever.
I like the way Joyce Rupp, the Roman Catholic writer suggests darkness is like a visitor who stays with you for a while. You can learn from this visitor but you need to set limits and boundaries. It doesn’t get to dictate your life and it doesn’t get to stay forever. The Christmas figures on the church roof at Harrogate Road church are a reminder to us as they are lit up in the darkness. Jesus the light of the world is come. To go back to the sign on the toilet door yes it may be dark, but our light IS working!
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