A CHRISTIAN MEDITATION FOR THE SECOND NIGHT OF HANUKKAH
As we go through this year’s eight-day season of Hanukkah, I hope you are noticing all the different forms of light around you and how each different light seems to have some certain type of effect on all of those who look to see it shine.
Some lights are soft, some are bright, some are colored, some are white, some are set against a night sky, some are shinning from people’s windows or the street, and some even reside in the twinkling eyes of a child with the excitement of the season.
All of the lights are different; but all are still light.
EVERY LIGHT IS UNIQUE
Each one is unique in its own way.
They all help to light the way through the darkness.
Some people are a lot like these lights.
Even some buildings are a lot like these lights.
I fondly remember one night’s experience of looking way up into the night sky and seeing the front of a very beautiful building. We were visiting relatives in South Carolina.
The stately building was fashionably designed with a sleek, tall, modern, black-paneled glass-façade; which was placed carefully over a silver metallic structure.
THE REFLECTIONS OF LIGHT
If you walked beneath this building at night, you could see the reflections of the lights of the park, the river, and the city which lay out on the hill beneath it. Their shapes were reflected within its walls.
The various different lights of this pretty landscape were so beautiful reflecting up into those black building panels. It was interesting to see how these pretty reflections changed and evolved as the night went on.
So lovely.
Beautiful and fascinating.
REFLECTING JESUS – THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD
We delighted in looking at that building on our trip; and we even walked to the top floor and stepped onto the inside which allowed us to look out over the landscape from up high to see exactly where the lights were reflecting from.
Again; it was breath-taking.
We ate dinner at a restaurant on the top floor. The view was even more delightful than the wonderful food which we consumed there.
I wondered if this view was anything like the view that God experiences when He looks down from Heaven to see His people moving on the earth. The church is His building from which His reflection shows, grows, changes and becomes beautiful.
The lovely building was appropriately named The Peace Center; and I marveled at the perfection of the name. It seemed a perfect fit.
Each year when Hanukkah comes around, the memory of that awesome building just keeps surfacing inside my mind’s eye.
THE LIGHT THAT DWELLS WITHIN EVERYTHING
Hanukkah is a time when we should be noticing the light that dwells within everything.
It is a time of awesome wonder.
The amazing building I described reflected the light so beautifully, both from the inside and the outside; and the fact that it was called The Peace Center just seemed to be so natural and right.
We should be like that building; beautiful and full of lights both on the inside and the outside, and always living up to the purpose of our lives before God.
The Peace Building reminds me that our God, Who must certainly love peace, always brings forth His peace and light into the darkness.
Peace is achieved by many changes over time.
A TIME OF WONDER AND BEAUTY
Beautiful light certainly changes things.
We find the greatest light and the greatest peace when we examine the life of Our Messiah who is The Light of The World. He and God are One.
In this wondrous season of Hanukkah, whenever we think of the miracle of His coming to earth as Emmanuel (Christ with us); we also are remembering the miracle of the ancient light that God brought forth from the restored Temple.
That miracle of light on the first Hanukkah was a silent prophecy of the Messiah.
No words were needed.
Everyone knew that the miracle of the light meant that a Messiah would one day come.
COMMEMORATING THE MIRACLE
We light the candles on this second night to commemorate the wonders and the miracles given to our forefathers who trusted God in all circumstances and made it through the troubles of those dark days.
We too must do this as we also are traveling through dark days.
The coming of the miracle of the light gave them hope.
We think of the saving acts that God performed for them.
Throughout the eight days of Hanukkah we remember to behold the miracle of light.
We offer thanks to God and praise to His great Name for such miracles, their wonder and the joy of our Salvation.
THE MIRACLE BRINGS US HOPE
As we go through the traditions of old, we use the candles to learn the stories.
These are told in the holy scriptures by so many servants of God in so many wonderful ways.
Each story is unique; and each storyteller is unique.
There are many ways to ponder such things.
Everything doesn’t always have to be the same.
Have you ever considered scattering the light of your Hanukkah table all over the table with the servant candle standing the tallest in the center?
Of course you do know that the tallest, servant candle represents Christ. It is the light from this One candle that kindles the lights of all the other candles.
Without the servant candle to light the way; there would be no light at all.
HOW THE CANDLES TELL THE STORY
Not to take away from the beautiful tradition of the Menorah (which I love,) but you can sometimes scatter the lights all over the table and just put the servant candle in the middle in order to make the point that many little beacons of light scattered here and there are capable of lighting up the whole world when you are looking on from a distance.
The church is full of shinning lights; scattered yet together in emanating the light of Christ unto the world.
It is something to ponder as you set the table to celebrate Hanukkah.
You begin to think about how important the light of Christ is to all of us; whether near or far or scattered. Without Him; there would be nothing for us to reflect.
After scattering the light on one night; then it is fun to spend the next night with the menorah intact.
Doing this is how we begin to notice with great significance how beautifully and perfectly God brings all of those who have been scattered into one body forming unity and peace on the earth.
Only God could do such a thing.
God unites; Satan divides.
FEW ARE MIGHTY WITH GOD’S HELP
Given those facts, we need to remember that we are all about unity as we consider the great miracle of light at Hanukkah.
Let us all be united during this beautiful season through the blood of Christ which makes us all brothers and sisters and children of God.
GOD MAKES EACH SOUL ADEQUATE
Also; this candle lighting time makes me remember some well-known words from Nelson Mandela:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves: “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?”
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
You’re playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.”
THE GUILTY ARE THOSE WHO CAUSE THE DARKNESS
On the same note of bringing light into the darkness; I think about these other famous words from Dr. Martin Luther King:
“When people are placed in darkness,
Crimes will be committed.
The guilty are not just those who commit the crimes,
But those who cause the darkness.”
Let us work to end the darkness by becoming light-bearers.
Therefore; it is time for us all to stand up and become the bearers of the light of Christ.
We all should go about our days shinning like the lights of the candles on the Menorah.
USING THE OIL THAT LASTS AND SHINES
Let us be a beacon of Christ The King to those living within the walls of a dark world.
May our lives reflect the Messiah that the miracle of the oil on that first Hanukkah prophesied to us.
We obtain this precious oil from God’s Holy Spirit living within us.
Let the light of Christ shine out from us and serve as another great miracle.
Now; we must all go out and change the world from the inside out.
Because we are born to be the light-bearers.