Paul
Advent 2024: Wed 18 Dec
John 3.16 and the dark night
John 3, verse 16 tells us that God loved the world so much that he gave us his only-begotten Son, that we who believe in him may gain eternal life. This gift, made real in the Incarnation, is a Christmas theme that few carols address in depth, and that’s understandable as it’s not about events or narrative, but it does deserve to be heard in word and song at any time, and especially at Christmas time.
It would feel odd if we sang Christmas carols at any other time of the year, and so their seasonal nature connects them with all the other seasonal things we do at this time. There is nothing wrong with tradition in our services if what we are doing honours God and draws us to him. “Christmassy” carols and candle-lit venues can weave a spell if we let them, and distract us from the true message of God’s amazing love and Jesus’ amazing work.
I’d also like to pick up on some assumptions that we entertain. What were the real conditions at the Nativity? Mary and Joseph would have been lucky to have an oil lamp, let alone candles in the stable. Night-time for them was dark – why would you need light anyway? The shepherds were keeping watch by night. For them oil lamps would be useless out in the fields, so they would have had to make their way to Bethlehem in the dark, arriving at a dark stable and saw only dark figures. Surely it had to be lighter by the time they arrived!
Did the angels appear in the middle of the night, or could they have come in the later darkness before dawn? It doesn’t matter if the angel came in the night or in the fading darkness: the glory of the Lord will shine anywhere! The star that led the magi and rested over the place came with them.
I don’t want to banish carols that aren’t totally correct but I do think we should all be able to sing them with fair understanding.
Paul