The Luxor Las Vegas Hotel is home to the most intense beam of light in the world.  Using computer designed, curved mirrors to collect the light from 39 xenon lamps and focus them into one intense, narrow beam, engineers say that a person could read a newspaper by Luxor’s Sky Beam from 10 miles up.  On a clear night the 42.3 billion candela beam is visible up to 275 miles away by airplanes at cruising altitude and is an FAA designated navigation landmark for pilots.

            The most intense light I have ever photographed was generated by a clump of burning steel wool.  I had been fascinated by images produced this way so one cold January evening I enlisted several friends from the photo club to join me at a nearby boat landing to attempt some of our own.  I wanted to be near water even though there was snow on the ground because I knew technically we’d be “playing with fire”!  I’d watched several tutorials on Youtube and felt competent enough in the “how to” process that I was sure we’d get some good photographs out of our adventure.  After a few practice runs we all felt confident enough to do the “real thing”.  Once the steel wool is lit in its holder it is swung around in the air like a giant “sparkler”.  The camera records the light at a slow shutter speed and when the image is viewed back all the flying sparks plus the central area of where the steel wool was swinging remain illuminated and clear while the area surrounding the light is pitch black.  The pictures are fascinating and beautiful!

            It’s not surprising to me that many passages of Scripture which describe angels refer to them as a form of intense light.  The first mention of them in this way is the angels which were assigned to guard Eden after Adam and Eve were banned from residing there (Gen. 3:24).  Not only are the cherubim clothed in brilliant light they bear “flaming” swords which literally means swords made of fire.  I have a picture in my mind of Adam and Eve attempting to enter Eden only to be blinded by this intense light like I get blinded by SUV’s with those extremely bright halogen lights set on high beam.  They instantly raise their hands to protect their eyes.  Several Scriptures where angels and humans meet record a similar effect upon humans who encounter angels in their heavenly state (Ex. 3:1-6; 1 Chr. 21:28-30; Lk. 1:8-13).

            Many years ago a young woman in the hillside village of Nazareth was waiting for her wedding day when suddenly an angel appeared to her with some rather unusual news.  However, unlike Adam and Eve, David and Zacharias, Mary is not fearful.  Instead she is curious as to why God has chosen her and asks the Heavenly Messenger, “How could this be?”  You can hear her humility as you read her admission, “Lord, I’m not that special, but I am glad to do Your will.” (Lk. 1:26-38)

            Perhaps the most amazing aspect of the angel Gabriel’s message is the revelation that God is going to come among His people to dwell with them.  God first dwelled with humankind in the Garden of Eden, but sin broke that communion/community.  God continued to desire to be with His people even after the Fall and there are countless stories in the Old Testament which demonstrate this.  However, none is more vivid than the time when Israel wandered through the desert led by the Glory of God.  The Shekinah (as it is called) was God’s version of the Luxor Sky Beam- a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21).  Talk about an intense light!  God also resided in the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle (Exodus 25:8) and the Temple (2 Chronicles 7:1-3).  In each of these sacred spaces it is noted that “the Glory of the Lord” rested on the Mercy Seat.  God’s presence was (and still is) always associated with the most intense light humanly imaginable.  It is almost too bright to bear and just as exciting as a clump of steel wool being lit and swung about to produce an amazing picture.

            But the prophet Isaiah said that God would dwell with us in an even more intimate way (Isaiah 7:14).  The day when Gabriel showed up at Mary’s home put the fulfillment of that prophecy into motion.  Years later when the apostle John wrote, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn. 1:14) he was using the image of all those Old Testament passages and remembering that the Lord made Isaiah’s prophecy truly come to pass.  It would be a fine ending if God’s dwelling with people stopped at Jesus’ birth.  But the story goes on in that now God’s Spirit dwells in us (1 Cor. 3:16)!  God no longer guides people on earth through sky beams or by living in the Temple in Jerusalem.  He now lives in you!  The intensity of God’s Light in us depends on how willing we are to do God’s will as Mary was.  A new year is about to begin.  Maybe this is the year to work on your intensity and aim to be as bright as the Luxor Sky Beam while living for Christ each and every day.

Ann H. LeFevre, M. Div.
https://www.annhlefevre.com; Olivetreeann@mail.com; https://www.linkedin.com/in/annhlefevre; https://www.facebook.com/ann.h.lefevre

            Every community has at least one- that over the top Christmas light display that has a light on every tree, every object and every possible inch of the house where lights can be hung.  Some displays are more sedate and elegant with a wreath on the door and a candle in every window.  Some are whimsical with their illuminated blow-up characters of snowmen, penguins and beloved Christmas characters.  In most neighborhoods you will find light displays from one end of the spectrum to the other making Christmas perhaps the most well-lit of all the holidays we celebrate.   The lights of Christmas are quite beautiful on a cold winter’s night, but have you ever looked at them in the daytime?  They don’t look like much then.

            Light does have a way of taking common everyday (and sometimes even ugly) things and making them beautiful.  Such was the case for the artists Valeria Bianco, Michelle Brick and Shaugun Singh who used gateways of light to beautify the pedestrian walkway underneath the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.  The Tribute of Light is the art installation at Ground Zero which sends up two beacons of light each year to commemorate the victims of 9-11.  Because we are attracted to light and find it beautiful in many ways, light has been used in art and architecture throughout the ages, beginning with the stained-glass windows of Gothic cathedrals all the way to lasers and neon lights in the modern era.  So it is not surprising that light has led us to the day we celebrate Christ’s birth.

            The lovely tradition of the Advent wreath is designed to guide believers through the dark days of waiting before the celebration of Christ’s birth.  The outer circle of the wreath contains four candles which are lit weekly; each featuring a part of the Christmas story.  One candle is placed in the center and it is called the Christ Candle.  The fact that this candle is in the center of the wreath reminds believers that the Incarnation (Christ’s birth) is the heart of the Christmas season giving light to the world.  Madison Avenue and marketing experts may try to convince you that the celebration of Christmas through holiday meals and excessive gifts is what Christmas is all about.  Hallmark movies and box office hits at the local movie theater may try to tell you that family, friends and brotherly love are what Christmas is all about.  But that one central candle is the True Light, the real meaning of Christmas (Jn. 1:9) and it is plainly visible to us on the Advent wreath.  We can’t overlook it because of where it is placed. 

            Christ is truly the center of Christmas.  Even as a baby, He was both human and unique.  He came into this world like all other babies (Lk. 2:7) yet angels surrounded by a glorious light announced His birth to shepherds (Lk. 2:8-13).  Not many babies get a birth announcement like that!  While Matthew and Luke give us some details about His birth, it is not nearly enough for our detail hungry 21st century minds.  Instead when it came time for His story to be told the Gospel writers focused their attention on His death and resurrection, including His promise to return (Acts 1:1-11).  While Advent is celebrated with the lighting of candles, the singing of Christmas carols and prayer Christmas itself brings Advent to a close.  Your neighbors will eventually take down their Christmas display.  If you do have an Advent wreath you will pack it up and put it away until next year.  But our waiting is not over.  Now we wait for Christ’s return and until He comes it is our privilege and duty to carry His beautiful light into the world just as He commanded us in Matthew 5:14-16.

            Will our light be like the central candle of the Advent wreath, the one that points to the Center of Christmas?  Or will it be like those crazy blow-up characters that look like a pile of dirty laundry in the daytime when they are lying lifeless on the ground?  Will our light be joyful like the house whose windows, shutters, doors and eaves are dotted with a colorful ribbon of cascading Christmas lights or will they be calm, peaceful and inviting like the stately homes which spotlight a wreath on the door and have a candle in every window?  Whatever form our light-shining might take, it is my prayer that no one will mistake it for an advertising campaign or a secular platitude.  May our lights shine forth with the True Light this Christmas season and throughout the coming year.
 
Ann H. LeFevre, M. Div.
https://www.annhlefevre.com; Olivetreeann@mail.com; https://www.linkedin.com/in/annhlefevre; https://www.facebook.com/ann.h.lefevre

            It had been a busy day.  I’d been cleaning a friend’s house and then stopped off at the supermarket to do the food shopping on the way home.  My last stop was to the pharmacy to pick up some toiletries.  The day had also been a wet one with several heavy downpours.  But as the evening approached, the clouds began to recede and the sun was making a grand appearance on the horizon.  When I stepped out of the store, I was met with a spectacular sight.  To my left was a sunset so golden it appeared as if the sky was drenched in liquid amber and honey and infused with gold dust.  That was breathtaking enough, but to my right, an even grander display revealed itself- a massive rainbow whose arch stretched across the sky against the canvas of the rain clouds which were now transformed in to a work of art.  Seeing the colorful light of a rainbow is always a joyful experience for me.

            Light, and the colors revealed by it, is both obvious and mysterious.  We enjoy its yellow warmth every day and keep the darkness of night at bay with a variety of incandescent or fluorescent light bulbs.  We catch glimpses of its nature when a sunbeam travels across a dust-filled room or when a rainbow appears after a storm.  The fundamental process at work in a rainbow is refraction, which simply put is the bending of light.  Light bends, or changes direction, when it travels through one medium to another, such as it does from the air and through a prism you have hanging in your window. 

          Prisms also separate white light into its component colors.  Different colors have different frequencies.  These frequencies of light enter and exit the prism at different speeds which is how the light is bent.  A prism bends the colors twice- once when the light enters it, and once again when it exits the prism.  Drops of rainwater disperse light the same way a prism does.  Light enters the raindrop from one angle and is bent a second time as it exits the raindrop.  Each drop refracts one color of the spectrum, so you can imagine how many raindrops it takes to make a rainbow!

          Our ability to see color is thanks to two components in the make-up of our eyes- rods and cones which are located in our retina.  These photoreceptors help us to perceive light and particularly color.  The rods are less sensitive to color even though we have somewhere around 120 million of them in our eyes.  The 6 to 7 million cones which can be found in the central yellow spot (the macula) is where our color perception takes place.  Cones are divided into three types: red, green and blue.  The blue cones have the highest sensitivity to light and color.  The rods employ a photopigment called rhodopsin.  They are more sensitive to blue and respond very little to red which leads to some interesting ways in which we perceive color.  For example, in bright light our cones enable us to see a red rose but its leaves will be less vibrant.  However, when twilight comes our rods will pick up on the green of the leaves and the red rose will be less vibrant.

          Stars, planets and heavenly bodies such as comets can also appear to be colored as they twinkle or move across the night sky.  In the ancient world those nightly spectacles were often related to monumental events that took place in history.  For example, Roman historians took note that a blood-red comet (so bright it could be seen during the day) appeared in 44 B. C., the year Julius Caesar was assassinated.  Although we can’t specifically identify the comet or star that appeared to the Wise Men, we know they took its appearance seriously because they packed up their belongings and headed west to find the king they determined it was announcing.  Modern astronomers have come up with a few good candidates for this important celestial birth announcement but which one it was is not as important as what the Wisemen did when they saw it and the result it produced when they found what they were looking for.  Upon arriving in Bethlehem and seeing Jesus, their feelings were just as full of joy and delight as the ones we express when we see a beautiful rainbow stretched overhead (Mt. 2:1-12).

          Bumper stickers proclaiming, “Wisemen still seek Him” were quite popular a while back.  While the saying may be cliché now, it’s still true.  Eyes which can enjoy the beauty of a golden sunset or a massive rainbow are also meant to “see” the Truth of this season.  We don’t have to pack up everything and go on a lengthy journey to find it but our determination should be just as committed to doing so as the Wisemen were.  In a holiday season driven by consumerism it’s easy to miss Jesus.  Could we develop spiritual eyes that like our rods and cones enable us to adjust our vision and see Him in the midst of all the lights and tinsel?  I think it’s possible if we truly want to see (Ps. 9:10; 34:10; 40:16; Is. 55:6; Mt. 6:33).

Ann H. LeFevre, M. Div.
https://www.annhlefevre.com; Olivetreeann@mail.com; https://www.linkedin.com/in/annhlefevre; https://www.facebook.com/ann.h.lefevre

            Have you ever watched a spark take hold of a piece of wood and leap up into a flame on a campfire, in a fireplace, or in a woodstove?  If you’re lighting that fire in a dark place, the minute the flame takes hold the darkness appears to move away from the light.  Light has the ability to dispel darkness; to literally push it away and replace the darkness with revelation and understanding.  The season of Advent which is now being celebrated in many churches features different parts of the Christmas story in anticipation of Christ’s birth with the lighting of candles.  As the weeks progress more and more light appears on the Advent wreath.  The candles on it are lit bringing more light into the “dark days” of waiting.  The story is revealed to us little by little, just like the sun rises little by little, until we celebrate Christ’s birth.

            There was a man long ago who believed that he would see God’s light in a very special way.  His faith was rewarded when Mary and Joseph brought the baby Jesus to the Temple for His customary dedication.  When the man (whose name was Simeon) saw Jesus, he praised God and called Jesus a “Light of Revelation” and “God’s Salvation” (Luke 2:25-35, vv.30 and 32 in particular).  Those seem like strange names for a baby!  But Simeon understood that he was seeing some of Isaiah’s prophecies come true right before his eyes (Is. 9:1-7).  The dark days of his waiting were chased away by God’s Light.

            Hannukah is another festival which features light and it too is celebrated at this time of year.  The lights of Hannukah tell the story of a dark time in Jewish history when the Temple had been defiled and worship there was being suppressed.  A bold, young man named Judas Macabee roused nationalistic fervor among the Jews and after a year of skirmishes and battles he was able to recapture the Temple in Jerusalem.  However it was in such a state of defilement it seemed like it would be an impossible task to clean it up.  None the less the clean-up job was initiated and after a year the rededication of the Temple became a reality.  But, as the story goes, it was discovered that only one day’s worth of the proper oil for the lampstand in the Holy Place could be found.  It was decided that the ceremony would still take place and the lampstand would be allowed to go out.  Once more oil could be produced the Temple would be dedicated again.  However when the priest entered the Holy Place the following day, the lamp was still burning and for the following 7 days (while the new oil was being made) the lamp remained burning.  The darkness of those days prior to the dedication was replaced by a great miracle; one the Jewish people still celebrate today.   
     
            It is not surprising to me that the darkness this time of year seems much colder than others.  It’s not just the fact that the temperature is lower due to the sun’s distance from our planet.  In the northern hemisphere the color has been drained from our surroundings by leafless trees and hibernating gardens.  Even the animals lose some of their color to naturally blend in with the defoliated forest.  I’m always jealous of the folks who live in the southern hemisphere at this time since they’re heading into summer but then, they encounter the same flip-flop when we are suffering through the heat of summer and they are in the midst of their winter.  Still, on a daily basis, we all face a point when the darkness seems overwhelmingly here to stay until that moment when the first hint of light pops over the horizon at sunrise or just like that initial spark on a piece of wood promises that heat is on the way.

            There is something about faith that is perfectly illustrated in the attraction of a light which pierces through the darkness and draws us to it for warmth and the ability to see.  So it is not unusual to find that many passages of Scripture use light to teach us that coming to know Christ as Savior is like the process of being drawn to a light in a dark room.  1 Peter 2:9 teaches us that God has brought us into this light:  But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.  As you can see, the attraction does not stop when we find the light, it continues as we draw others alongside us so that they too can benefit from it. 

            Back in the ancient days of my college years my friends and I would sing a song that began with the words, “It only takes a spark to get a fire going”.  The song continued to affirm that God’s love was similar.  If you “Passed It On”, it would take off like a flame.  So as the Advent season continues, find ways that you can be God’s light for those who you see caught in darkness.  Be the light that dispels darkness for them.

Ann H. LeFevre, M. Div.
https://www.annhlefevre.com; Olivetreeann@mail.com; https://www.linkedin.com/in/annhlefevre; https://www.facebook.com/ann.h.lefevre