One of the simplest and yet most powerful testimonies I ever heard to this great hope of ours was offered by one of my curates when I was Rector of St Ninian ’ s in Pollokshields on the south side of Glasgow .
He was taking some children round that wonderful church and they noticed the white light burning above the altar of the side chapel , where the sacrament of consecrated bread and wine was kept .
Why was that light burning away there ? Well , he said , it is there to remind us that Jesus the light of the world is always with us so that , even if we came into this big church in the dark we needn ’ t be afraid because Jesus is here , Jesus is with us , the light still burns .
The poet , John Betjeman , put it like this .
And is it true , This most tremendous tale of all , Seen in a stained-glass window ' s hue , A Baby in an ox ' s stall ? The Maker of the stars and sea Become a Child on earth for me ?
And is it true ? For if it is , No loving fingers tying strings Around those tissued fripperies , The sweet and silly Christmas things , Bath salts and inexpensive scent And hideous tie so kindly meant ,
No love that in a family dwells , No carolling in frosty air , Nor all the steeple-shaking bells Can with this single Truth compare - That God was man in Palestine And lives today in Bread and Wine .
My only quibble with Betjeman , and it ’ s an important quibble , is really a theological one and I want to end with it . It ’ s not really that all the sweet and silly Christmas things , or carols , or bells or even human love can ’ t compare with the truth that the light of the world was human in Palestine and lives today in bread and wine , it ’ s that we should allow them , in heart and mind and spirit , to point us once again towards that single , world-changing , allimportant truth , the Light of the World . He came into the world all those years ago , looking for us and He comes into our midst this Christmas on the same quest , to embrace us with joy and wonder so that we may do the very same to Him .
+ Gregor
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