Christmas Lights, Christless Lives

Am I alone in noticing the correlation between godless Britain’s increasing ignorance of the Christian message and the speed with which Christmas decorations are erected? They seem to go up earlier each year, but never has the land been as pagan as it was in, well, pagan times. I even passed the home of former church goers last month whose front window resembled Blackpool illuminations, something one did not see when they attended worship. The lights are, in part, a response to the long dark nights and a way of sharing some cheer. Yet they also bespeak the spiritual emptiness that our national rejection of Christianity continues to create. The excessive twinkling and flashing attempts to fill the shady chasm left by extinguished faith; they are a man-made alternative to Christ's illuminating presence. Yet filling one’s home with electric bulbs while rejecting the Light of the world is as pointless as holding a lit candle to the midday sun.

Lord, I come to Your awesome presence,
From the shadows into Your radiance;
By the blood, I may enter Your brightness,
Search me, try me, consume all my darkness,
Shine on me, shine on me.

Graham Kendrick, © Makeway Music Ltd.