CHRISTMAS LIGHTS 2020

The lights are up and out of doors.
Three blue spruce shine as never before.
Packed in crates and sprouting doubt
the trees inside are down and out,
as are so many.  But up are the lights,
leading us out of the shadows of night.
Why keep the light inside under a bushel,
when outside an inn unassuming
burns still a bush unconsuming?
In this cold, covid winter stark,
God speaks into the chaos dark.
Light, oh let there be heavenly love.
The Word made flesh, down from above.
Holy human, full of acumen, divine.
So eat the bread, and drink the wine,
take off your shoes, fall on your knees.
God touched the earth and lit up the trees.

JPH 22-11-2020

It was just over a year ago we had the joy and privilege of dedicating the long awaited Creation Window above our west gallery.   The spectacular stained glass window was crafted over a period of two years by the Kathryn and Jane Irwin of the Art Zone Studio to honour the late Betty Howson whose children funded the memorial window. 

The window is also called, ‘Let There Be light,’ from the first day of creation.  Wonderfully, the light often renders variations in the brightness of the reds and yellows and sharpness of the blues depending on the time of day and where the sun is in the sky.  At times it also casts those same colours onto the walls of the nave and up into the chancel depending on the time of year.   The colours dance and sing in sacred wonderment.

One evening last week as the sun was setting the Creation Window appeared to have been transformed.  So great was the variation that one might have thought the artists had returned to stain the glass with new colours, but of course the artist was God, the giver of light.  I pray the wonder and beauty of God’s light and love are reflected as well in our lives as we seek to follow the One who is the Light of the World.    

I was searching for just the right words to sum up the wonder of light when I came across a poem crafted by the British poet Malcolm Guite entitled Seven Whole Days.  While the poem was inspired by the George Herbert hymn, the first day or stanza of the poem almost seems to have been written for our window.  It is published in his book, Parable and Paradox, 2016 Canterbury Press.  Feast your hearts and eyes.

Let there be light as I begin this day,
To draw me from the darkness and the night,
To bless my flesh, to clear and show my way,
Let there be light.
Strong in the depth and shining from the height,
Evening and morning’s interplay,
Blessing and enabling my sight.
Lighten my soul and teach me how to pray,
Lighten my mind and teach me wrong from right,
In all I do and think and see and say
Let there be light. 

Malcolm Guite

Here is a video about the making of our Creation Window

Peace,

Peter