Christmas Pearls

At Christmas we think of the old, and they receive gifts for their comfort. But a man approaching ninety, who did not think of his age as a problem, or as a reason not to keep giving out, sent me a gift. He described his age as 'the Methuselah tendency'. Those of you who study the Bible will know that the seemingly ageless Methuselah just went on and on until God took him.

In his last week on Holy Island, Brother Damian reminded the four mad people who had struggled at dawn along the ice rinks called pavements to the unheated church that John the Forerunner, who prepared the way for Christ, is celebrated at the summer equinox because each day thereafter diminishes, and he decreased each day so that Christ might increase. And that is also why Christ's birth is celebrated after the winter equinox, for the light thereafter increases each day, and as we add our light to the Christ-lights of the world, the cosmic Christ light increases. I thought that was OK for the Roman Empire and the northern hemisphere but not for the southern hemisphere where that symbolism does not work. Actually, a symbolism just as powerful is possible. As the outer darkness increases each day the inner light shines brighter each day.