Christmas Lights

This advent season I have been thinking a lot about what it means to experience the light of God.  How do we in a world that seems to be full of darkness find the light of God?  You watch the news and see a world that seems out of control, lost in the darkness.

Here are just the current headlines on my local news:

• Milwaukee Hospital Does CT Scan On Hungarian Mummy
• Suspect In Credit Union Kidnapping Has Died
• Search For Missing Mich. Boys Hits Home
• Flags To Fly At Half-Staff Thursday For Wisconsin Soldier
• Police: Man Killed Over Stolen Cigarettes
• Mourners Remember Crash Victim At Visitation

The National news isn't much better.

• Even One Puff Can Kill You
• Authorities Set fire to Explosive-Laden CA House
• Unhappy Democrats Say Tax Bill Likely to Pass
• Protests, Cyber-Skirmishes Rage over WikiLeaks
• FBI: Md. Bomb Plot Suspect Knew About Oregon Sting
• Police:  Man Claims He's a Vampire, Burns V on Teen
• SOcial Worker:  Dad Blamed Devil in Tot's Death
• Parrot Echoed Pleas Of Dying Mother
• Authorities: Mont. Man Staged Own Kidnap Hoax
• Paris Slowly Returning To Normal After Snow
• Ritzy Boutiques Cater To Ultra-Spoiled Pets

 "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 in chapter 9, is speaking of a people lost in the dark, a people who have been conquered and find their cities in rubble.  Into that rubble, God sends Isaiah to spread the light, to spread the news that there is more, God is there with them. God will not leave them alone.  God will shine a light into those places where there is hurt, hunger, homelessness.  When we think the world is dark God gives us that spark, that glimpse of the light to make even the darkest night bright.  

As I was searching for what to write in my sermon this week I came upon this Coldplay son "Christmas Lights."   
 

May the Christmas Lights, the Light of God, light up your street so that the darkness is a little bit brighter.