Dear Friends
With the arrival of the vaccine, we are
now being told that there is “light at the end of the tunnel”.
While we rejoice at that good news, we also must realize the “end” of the tunnel is still many
months away, at best. And, there will be many twists and turns along the
way, which means the light will not always be visible.
Tomorrow, December 21st,
is the first day of winter, the winter solstice, the day with the longest
night. For many, 2020 has been the longest year of their lives. This year,
it is also the closest visible conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in 800
years. This is being compared to the “Christmas Star” because the biblical star
we read about in Luke could also have been a conjunction of planets. (To see
it, we are being told to “look toward the waxing moon in the western sky, about 45
minutes after sunset”).
Perhaps we could imagine ourselves being
in conjunction with Jesus this Christmas (“God and sinners
reconciled”, as we sing in that carol.) When we intentionally
try to stay close to the “light of the world”, he will lead us through
the long, dark, twisting and turning tunnels of our lives, including the
one the whole world is experiencing right now.
These words of John Henry Newman's classic hymn come to mind:
Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling
gloom, lead thou me on;
The night is dark, and I am far from home;
lead thou me on;
Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
the distant scene: one step enough for me.*
Forward day by day? How about, for right now, forward
step by step!
As we patiently and prayerfully wait for
the vaccinations to spread (in order to slow down and stop the spread), let us rejoice
that we have a light, a Shepherd and Savior now. Jesus is not
a vaccine to give us immunity from every disease and heartache, from every sin
that infects the world. He is the one who walks with us through
this life and offers forgiveness, healing, and abundant life, and, a new
life that defeats death.
And so let us pray the verse of “O Come O Come
Emmanuel” appointed for tomorrow, December 21st:
O come, thou Dayspring from on high
and cheer us by thy drawing nigh;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
and death’s dark shadow put to flight
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to
thee, O Israel!
You're finished, fall. Welcome, winter. Coming Soon: spring and summer!
John
* If you have extra time, you might enjoy reading
these excerpts from Wikipedia about this hymn:
"Lead, Kindly Light"
is a hymn with words written in 1833 by Saint John Henry Newman as a poem
titled "the Pillar of the Cloud", which was first published in the
British Magazine in 1834. As a young priest, Newman became sick while in Italy
and was unable to travel for almost three weeks. In his own words:
Before starting from my inn, I sat down on
my bed and began to sob bitterly. My servant, who had
acted as my nurse, asked what ailed me. I could only answer, "I have a
work to do in England." I was aching to get home, yet for want of a vessel
I was kept at Palermo for three weeks. I began to visit the churches, and they
calmed my impatience, though I did not attend any services. At last, I got off
in an orange boat, bound for Marseilles. We were becalmed for whole week in the
Straits of Bonifacio, and it was there that I wrote the lines, Lead, Kindly
Light, which have since become so well known.
Notable occasions relating to hymn:
The largest mining disaster in the Durham Coalfield in
England was at West Stanley Colliery, known locally as "The Burns
Pit", when 168 men and boys lost their lives as the result of two
underground explosions at 3.45pm on Tuesday 16 February 1909. In the Towneley
Seam 63 lay dead, in the Tilley Seam 18 lay dead, in the Busty Seam 33 lay dead
and in the Brockwell Seam 48 lay dead. But incredibly, there were still men
alive underground. A group of 34 men and boys in the Tilley Seam had found a
pocket of clean air. They were led by Deputy Mark Henderson. Sadly, a few of
them panicked and left the group, they died instantly after inhaling the poison
gas. The remainder sat in almost total darkness, when one of them began
humming the Hymn "Lead Kindly Light". In no time at all, the rest of
the miners joined in with the words, "Lead kindly light amidst the
encircling gloom, lead thou me on; The night is dark, and I am far from
home". This was probably sung to the tune "Sandon" by C. H.
Purday, popular with miners in the Durham coalfield. Before the hymn ended,
young Jimmy Gardner died of injuries. These 26 men were rescued after 14 hours,
four others were later rescued.
"Lead, Kindly Light" was sung
by Betsie ten Boom, sister of Corrie ten Boom, and other women as they were led
by the S.S. Guards to the Ravensbrück concentration camp during the Holocaust.
“Lead, Kindly Light” was sung
by a soloist, Marion Wright, on the RMS Titanic during a hymn-singing gathering
led by the Rev. Ernest C. Carter, shortly before the ocean liner
struck an iceberg on April 14, 1912. The hymn was also sung aboard one of
the Titanic's lifeboats when the rescue ship Carpathia was sighted the
following morning. It was suggested by one of the occupants, Noëlle, Countess
of Rothes.
Finally, on one occasion in February 1915, “Lead,
Kindly Light” was sung by a group of British troops to the accompaniment of
nearby artillery fire on the Western Front during the First World War, at
services held before going into the trenches the following day.iends
