|
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined. – Isaiah 9:2 NRSV
In my childhood, my family attended my father’s childhood church, which was in a rural Connecticut “post card” community of dry-fitted stone walls and a shipping heritage. The church had been founded by Swedes in the late 1800s, and the church kept many Swedish traditions, among them, using a birch Advent log instead of an Advent wreath.
Darkness came early during Advent in Connecticut – about an hour earlier than in Atlanta. Children knew that, after school, they had to play hard because the darkness, with its limitations, was coming soon.
As worshippers arrived for the 5 pm Advent services, the lights in the church’s interior were intentionally kept dim. They could look out the clear glass windows and watch the afterglow of the setting sun turn to a cold darkness. At the start of the service, the lector would read an appropriate Scripture passage, usually about light. Then, when the organist started playing “Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel,” the acolyte would enter the church from the darkness of the back of the church carrying a lighted candle, and then slowly move up the aisle toward the Advent log in the chancel.
I suppose the intention was for the lighting of the candle(s) of the Advent log to be the climax of the event but what I most remember is the soul-warming glow from the candle as the acolyte passed my pew. That acolyte was for the moment the incarnation of the Savior, bringing the joy of light, the Joy of Christ.
Dear Lord, help us to see your light, and to be that light for others. Amen.
Carol Bloomquist
| 
