In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
– JOHN 1:4-5

I remember being at a summer camp, in one of the long “lodges” that housed all the boys. The lodge was divided into smaller “cabin groups” headed by an eagerly enthusiastic leader with a nickname like “otter” or “rover” or something nonsensical like “sk’doop.” In any event, Rover and his counterparts would tell us that one of the unbreakable and infallible rules of camp dictated that no one would be permitted to pull pranks on people within the cabin or in other cabins. We always nodded and then immediately determined how far we could push the no-pranks rule. What we found was that there was only one acceptable prank — something that wouldn’t get us into trouble, but that would ultimately achieve at least a small measure of prank-success.

What we all knew was that one of the unavoidable requirements for a successful prank is the vulnerability of the person being subjected to it. Never was a person, or a group of people,  more vulnerable than when they were in the bathroom. So without fail, someone, upon arriving at the knowledge that a few people were in the bathroom, would determine to shut off all the lights, leaving the people in the bathroom in total darkness. Depending on the age of the victims, people would either scream in fear or issue threats of retribution that were exceedingly  disproportionate to the crime itself.

Out of the darkness came chaos. The two went hand in hand. Where there was dark there was a longing for the light — a determined effort to get out of the upheaval of the shadows and into the peace, the calm. So the victims would find their way to the light switch, occasionally tripping and saying words that also challenged the infallible camp rules. But, we all knew what no one denied — we needed the light.

At Christmas, we celebrate the arrival of a light into our all-to-frequent darkness. This Sunday, we’ll take a look at the peace that comes with that light in week 3 of our Advent series. It will be a great weekend to invite a friend.

See you Sunday,

Jeff