Let the light shine this Christmas

Christmas lights, like lutefisk, divide people into three categories: You love them, hate them or tolerate them — as long as they are not on your house.

We do little outside decorating at home. Where we live in the country, few would benefit from the effort. But I appreciate the varied expressions provided by our community. In fact I am a member of the “brighter is better fan club.”

I think the best decorated houses are the ones that can be seen from the Space Lab. The ones where the owner must contact the power plant to bring an extra generator on line to handle the demand; the person who causes a momentary brown-out in your neighborhood when they flip the switch; the house where people gather in the yard with suntan oil and swimsuits, in the hope of developing a winter tan.

It is not because I am invested in a Christmas light company, but because I believe it is a great celebration of the biblical message. “In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” — John 1:4-5.

If there was ever an appropriate expression of Christmas faith it is found in shining light into the darkness, with a light bulb, or better yet, by the inner glow of God’s presence that exists within His children. This is the season to let God’s truth and love shine, so let’s go all out.

Pastor Mark Holmes is an ordained minister in the Wesleyan Church and has served the Darrow Road Wesleyan Church since 1997.

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