The light shines in the darkness (PDF download)

Digital download: A liturgy for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day designed around four monologues which relate to symbols from the Christmas narratives: a lamp or candle, a wooden manger, a wooden staff or shepherd’s crook, and a wrapped Christmas present.

… But what is a lamp without hands to strike the match and light the wick?
A lamp cannot light itself.
What is a lamp without hands to hold it up
so its light shines into those dark corners?
A lamp cannot lift itself high.
What is a lamp without hands to open the door
and let the lamplight shine out into the darkness?
A lamp cannot open the door.

A lamp needs a life to look into the darkness
and see who needs light to brighten their path.
A lamp needs a life to light the wick and set the light shining.
A lamp needs a life to open the door and hold it up high,
a life that will welcome a stranger into the light, into the warmth,
into a heart and a hearth.

Nancy Cocks is a former Deputy Warden of Iona Abbey, after which she took up the post of professor at Atlantic School of Theology in Halifax, Nova Scotia and then served as minister of St John’s Presbyterian Church in Medicine Hat, Alberta before retirement. Nancy is the author of several books, including Invisible We See You and Growing Up With God.
13 pages