Why are we so enchanted by Christmas lights? We put them on trees, on the Christmas tree in our home and often on trees in our yard. We’re attracted to outdoor light displays, beautifully lit homes in our community or the spectacular displays of public parks, gardens, and businesses. In the silly movie “Christmas Vacation,” what was it that made Clark Griswold obsess about his Christmas display? Why our fascination with lights?
Without discounting scientific answers psychologists might give, religious people sense something beyond scientific reasoning. Ancient rabbis compared Abraham “to a man who was traveling from place to place when he saw a palace full of light. ‘Is it possible that there is no one who cares for the palace?’ he wondered. Until the owner of the palace looked at him and said, ‘I am the owner of the palace.’” (In Abraham Heschel, “Between God and Man,” 60). Might our fascination with lights be a deep, so deep we may not recognize it, fascination that comes from our relationship to the Creator of the universe and our Creator? Are we children imitating our heavenly Father?
“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world” (Psalm 19:1-4). Something is communicated to you and me when we lift our eyes to the lights of heaven, and yet that communication, their “words,” “speech,” and “voice” is not the speaking and hearing to which we’re accustomed. Enchanting earthly lights should draw us to inexpressibly higher wonder. “Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these?” (Isaiah 40:26).
Marveling at the cosmic display of light, the psalmist brings it down to here-and-now, an Advent into our daily lives. Hebrew scholar Timothy Saleska translates parts of verses 8 and 9: “The testimony of Yhwh (the Hebrew name of God) is trustworthy – making wise the simple. The commandment of Yhwh is brilliant – enlightening the eyes” (“Concordia Commentary, Psalms 1-50, 357). I look at Christmas displays with simple, childlike wonder, and the mystery becomes light for me the more I read my Father’s Word. “In your light do we see light” (Psalm 36:9).
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