Prepare the Way

 
On November 2nd, the night before the 2020 presidential election, my son Levi and I were driving down West Main Street in Lebanon.  He pointed out that the light poles had been decorated for Christmas.  As we drove we enjoyed the lit-up angels and bells and snowmen.  To be honest, I am a proud member of the “we don’t decorate for Christmas until the day after Thanksgiving” club.  This year, however, I didn’t take such offense.  If there ever was a year when we needed a little Christmas cheer and a celebration of “God with us,” this one is it!  

Lights are more beautiful in darkness.

As the “Prayer of Saint Francis” reminds us, we are called to sow love where there is hatred and hope when we feel despair and joy when there is sadness and light when there is darkness. Many people in our community these days are living through dark times due to illness, financial burdens, and loneliness.  So I think we will all appreciate the Christmas lights a little more this year. They will remind us all of Jesus Christ, the Light of the World. 

The first chapter in the Gospel of Luke ends with Zechariah giving thanks for his son, John the Baptist, and the role he would play in preparing the way for Jesus. That canticle ends this way: “And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace” (Luke 1: 76-79).  May the peace and light of Jesus Christ shine on us this Christmas.