Arise, shine; For your light has come!

Arise, shine; For your light has come!
And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you.
For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people;
But the LORD will arise over you,
And His glory will be seen upon you.
The Gentiles shall come to your light... Isaiah 60.1-3

He looked back down the road. He’d obviously taken a wrong turn somewhere. He could retrace his steps, but that would take too long. … Where the hell was he? “You have a problem, Dennis,” he said aloud.
Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton, p 195.

In the film version of Jurassic Park, Dennis has just crashed into the road sign that points the way. But the crash has broken the sign from its footing, and the arrow now spins pointlessly. Dennis is terrified, hopelessly lost in the darkness and rain. There is no way to find reorientation. Brutal predators are loose and afoot.. Moments earlier he thought he had it all. Now, he knows he is lost and alone.

What Dennis thinks he needs most is to know the way to the East Dock. In reality, Dennis has no clue what he needs most. For even if the sign weren’t broken, even if he found a map, even if someone were there to give him directions, Dennis won’t make it. He’s being hunted by that spitting dinosaur. He thinks his problem is that he has lost his way and will miss the riches-bringing rendezvous. But really, his most immediate problem is that he is about to become dinner for a dinosaur.

But his most immediate problem isn’t his deepest problem. Even were he not about to become dinner, and found the way to the East Dock, he was still Dennis. He was still greedy, dishonest, and a traitor. He was nobody that anybody would aspire to be.

Which is what Advent, Christmas and Epiphany are all about. Darkness has covered the earth. The earth is faced with increasing terrorism, poverty, plague, war, and ecological disaster. But those, as urgent and fatal, as important and pressing as they are, are not even the deepest problem. They are enormous things we must face. But they are not our root problem. The root of all of these dangers is Dennis. We need global transformation. But at the root, we need personal transformation. We need the Light to shine!

The Good News is that the Light HAS come. And that is what about Christianity is all about. Nothing less than this:
Joy to the world… the Lord has come.
Let earth receive her King!

So, arise! Shine!

The Lord be with you!