advent day four

Those who walked in the dark

Have seen a great light.

And it shines upon everyone who lives in the land of darkest shadows.

Isaiah 9: 2

Hope on dark days

We all have dark days. In the Northern Hemisphere, it actually is dark quite a lot of the time during December. There are days when the skies are grey, the lights are on indoors all day and it never quite seems to get light.

But even when the weather is not gloomy, our surroundings or circumstances can seem grey.

There may be obvious signs of darkness in our communities– homeless huddled in shop corners trying to beg from impatient Christmas shoppers; young people seeking Christmas cheer at drug -fuelled parties; single parents worried about how to buy food for next week, let alone any presents.

Or the darkness may be hidden in people’s hearts– loneliness, stress, fear, pain and insecurity.

Isaiah has news for us all– Those who walked in the dark have seen a great light!

Christmas is the time when that light burst into the dark places of the world.

The light keeps shining in the dark, and the darkness has never put it out.

John 1:5

Those who walked in the dark have seen a great light