Living in the Light

Advent Devotional by Carol Hess

“The people who walked in darkness have

seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the

shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.”

—Isaiah 9:2—

As a teenager, I was a faithful member of United Methodist Youth Fellowship and the high school Sunday school class of the Dimock Community Church. We were too old for Santa Claus but young enough to need a holiday ritual to call our own. Advent became ours. Each year the youth would prepare specials for the services. Usually on the first Sunday we would do a choral reading from the book of Isaiah and light the Advent wreath. My brother who had difficulty reading aloud in time with the choral reading was responsible for lighting the candle at the appropriate time in the reading.
Even though we knew the words in the reading, every year we had to practice using the correct intonation and emphasis. We were split up into groups based on the timber of our voices. We didn’t read many lines together, but all of us had our parts. The one line that the choral director always asked us to emphasize in both loudness and intensity was “upon them hath the light shined!” The exclamation point is mine. I didn’t feel that I walked in darkness or dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, even though now I understand the metaphor. However, with that one line, the light in that little country church grew brighter. We were the people that the light was shining on. We were the ones who were renewed and awaited the coming of our Lord. To me that phrase means what being a Christian is. We are people on whom God’s light is shining.

Prayer:
Dear God, thank you for Your light. Help us to live in Your light and to do Your will. Show us how to help others to join us in Your light. Amen