Read Luke 8:16-18.
Someone once told me that there are a lot of religious holidays during the late Fall and early Winter whose common symbol, across different traditions, is LIGHT. This makes sense, doesn’t it? As the days grew shorter and the night longer, for those who had to wait out the darkness and endure the fears a potentially bad winter could bring, the warmth of a fire and the light of a candle symbolized so much more than being able to navigate the shadows. Light was a gift that held back the darkness both literal and metaphorical.
We have just celebrated that Jesus Christ, the light of the world, has emerged into our physical and metaphorical winters. The light of Christ’s presence, peace, joy and love has been born again into our lives and the life of our world! As 2025 gets underway, one way the light of Christ emerges into this new year is through each of us who also bear the light of Christ to one another. But that can feel like a tall order when there seems to be so much darkness throughout our world.
Brother Roger of the Taizé community in France shared once that the only thing Christ ever asks of us is to take a little bit of the gospel in each day and then try to live that out. It’s through our small gestures, words, and actions that the light gets brighter, within and around. This year, may we each pay attention to tending the light.
Pray
Holy Spirit, ignite light within us each day and help us embody that light to one another and, eventually, to our whole world. Amen.
Rev. Gini Norris-Lane
Executive Director, UKirk Collegiate Ministries Association
Words for Waiting 