Welcome to the 2005 Advent Feature
The theme of this year’s Advent Calendar is Light.
Light is the basis of life on earth. Without light there would be no plants – and without plants, no animals. From the earliest peoples to modern scientists light has been a subject of fascination. The movement of the sun, moon and stars marked out the seasons and rhythm of each day. The shadow cast by a stick in the earth formed the simplest machine for measuring the movement of time. From that beginning humans have learned to measure the speed of light itself – and found something beyond which we cannot travel.
Across cultures light is a symbol of life, of immortality – of God. Darkness, in contrast, is associated with negation and death. The Gospel of John begins with an alternative creation story to that of Genesis. It takes us back beyond the beginning of the earth, back even before the beginning of time:
‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 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.’
Yet at times the symbolic contrast between light and darkness has been reversed as people have struggled to describe that which is beyond words.
In ritual and religious art, candles, lamps and fires play a central role both in ordinary worship, and in seasonal festivals, such as Hanukah and Divali. The Koran has its ‘light’ verses and the Buddha is often imagined with a halo of light.
And, of course, light is associated with Christmas – the star which shone over Bethlehem is recreated in neon lights above high streets and in shop windows across Britain. The crowds of shoppers might forget that the star is a sign that ‘the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth’, but that is where the tinsel and glitter of Christmas finds their meaning.
Play the 2005 Advent game and find out more about Light!