Comment by Harborough churches: Shine a light upon the darkness

Viewpoint of Rev Andy Giles, St. Dionysius Resource Church Curate

Happy New Year! Or Is it? Or are we feeling anything but happy?

Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in his Christmas message of 2019 spoke of darkness being upon the people of Beni in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa. They were struggling with Ebola and 3000 people had died, militia groups were fighting and often attacked the doctors and medics who were trying to bring help and mercy.

Welby describes darkness as a monster that lies, its growls drowning out the love-filled whispers of light. We see the shadows out of the corners of our eyes. And 2020 was a year that many felt darkness in our own lives, whether from the effects of Covid-19 or something political.

Sometimes darkness creeps into our personal lives, it tugs on our fears, loneliness and unrest, through illness, family feuds and strained relationships. A darkness that invades our lives and threatens our certainty and hope.

So how do we escape the darkness? The only way is to shine light upon it.

Christian churches across the world celebrated at Christmas, Jesus ‘the light of the world’ being born. For hundreds of years before Jesus came, the Jewish people had been waiting, living with fear over Roman occupation, waiting for a saviour; hope was coming. Do you ever feel you’ve been waiting, waiting maybe for a vaccine to bring hope?

We have seen the ‘light of Christ’ in people’s actions. Some in our community have been nominated for special awards like Liz Mills with the Jubilee Foodbank. Feeding, with the help and donations of many people, those who find themselves in need of food. Yet we don’t have to look far to see other lights, whether in the NHS, our neighbours, or in local volunteers and friends, putting themselves at risk to help another. All do so under the an overarching banner that Jesus came to show that we should ‘Love Your Neighbour’ – even when it’s hard work!

Jesus also told his disciples that they are the ‘light of the world’ (Matthew 5:4-16) because they have been entrusted with the gospel message. It is a message full of hope that teaches us to bring light to someone’s darkness, a message that that tells you that you are loved by your creator, a message and reality that this God that is spoken of, actually cares for you and wants to be in your life.

How can you personally bring Christ’s light into the darkness this year?

Rev Andy Giles is St. Dionysius Resource Church Curate

Churches Together in Harborough are inviting everyone to shine a light – candle or torch – at home on Friday (January 8) between 5-5.30 pm and to reflect on the need for peace in our time.

This replaces the annual vigil for peace and justice usually held in the town Square. Some prayer resources are available via the CTH website: https://www.harboroughchurches.org.uk/news/2020/peace-vigil-2021.html