I was undecided about what to write about today, but the sun shining in my eyes this morning has led me here.

There is so much darkness in the world that it is almost jarring to think about Christmas. And yet, the first Christmas was actually about light coming into darkness and had nothing to do with the blinding tackiness that surrounds the word now. I don’t know when the story of refugees, teenage pregnancy, genocide and homelessness got turned into overspending, overeating and overdrinking. In what way will all of that bring hope to people walking in darkness right now?

If you set ‘merry Christmas’ beside what is going on in Gaza, or even close to people who are going through a really tough time, it offers no comfort whatsoever. But if you search the Bible a little more, you will find a Light that never shrinks from the darkness of war, grief or pain. You will see instead that there is always a reason to hope. Think about what it says in Micah 7:7:

when I sit in darkness,
    the Lord will be a light to me.

Never be afraid or overwhelmed by darkness, because the Light of the World knows how to help you with it. He sees darkness and brings His light right into it. Like the angels appearing to vagabond shepherds on a hill above Bethlehem, or a baby in a grubby stable.

No-one can take away the black things we encounter every day, but take heart, as Digory says in The Magician’s Nephew,

‘In the darkness something was happening at last.’

There is a light shining, I really hope you can see it.