ニューイングランドの母校からアドベントの便り、その4
2016 Gordon-Conwell
Advent Devotional | Day 4 | Light For Our Path
Luke 1:79
We never know how dangerous our home is until the power fails. During the winter storms that sometimes besiege us in Massachusetts, the power lines become so heavy with the snow and so brittle with the freezing temperatures that they break and our entire area is plunged into darkness. With home power out, no street lights, and the moon hiding behind the snow clouds, darkness can be profound and suddenly our world is filled with objects to fall over, bump into, and knock heads with. Sometimes, it’s better just to sit down for a moment and wait for our eyes to adjust before we venture forth through what are now no longer familiar paths.
Spiritually speaking, Isaiah 9:2 tells us that was the plight of the people before God’s great light came into our world, stumbling along in a night of physical oppression from powerful enemies and spiritual ignorance of the way to God’s deliverance.
God’s answer was to send the light of life, eternally present in the Godhead, into our world in a baby born in Bethlehem to a humble mother. Jesus Christ, God- Among-Us, brought us stumblers the life-giving light of our great creating and recreating Triune God (John 1:4-5). Zechariah, the father of Jesus’ forerunner, John the Baptist, recalls Isaiah’s prophecy when he sings, “By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:78-79).
May God’s great light of life guide each of us along the path of deliverance and spiritual maturing in this time that we celebrate the coming of God’s lightbearer: our Lord Jesus Christ.
Dr. William David Spencer
Ranked Adjunct Professor of Theology and the Arts
