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Study Three

This session examines John’s focus on light and darkness, and moves to the
 universal concerns for light in midwinter that underlie festivals of light, like Christmas. People are invited to plan an appropriate mid-winter festival of light for their setting.

Gather
Have  a small candle for each person. Ask them to light it and place it in a candle holder, or a tray of sand. Sit quietly contemplating the candles.

Greet
Read a poem about light e.g. The Glass Lamp by J.K.Baxter.

Read
Here are six readings from John’s gospel about light. Ask different people to read them. John 1:1-9; 3:19-21; 8:12; 11:9-10; 12:35-36, 44-46.

Discuss
What is the importance of light to you? What does it symbolise?
 SAD = Seasonal Affective Disorder, is a problem faced by many people who get seriously depressed in winter. Do people feel better or worse when the sun shines? What festivals do you know of which are associated with light?
(Some would be

  • Christmas, which the Roman Church in 336 decided  would be on December 25, to replace the Roman festival of Sol Invictus, the unconquered sun, which had passed the winter solstice;
  • Divali, the Hindu festival of light in November
  • Hannukah or Chanukkah, the Jewish December festival of lights celebrating the liberation of Jerusalem by the Maccabees in BCE 164. )

Why do we celebrate Christmas in midsummer?
Do people light up their houses?
What do we celebrate in midwinter?

Plan
It is fine for us to celebrate the birth stories of Jesus, and to give gifts and have holidays, in midsummer, but the midwinter aspect of these celebrations is faintly ridiculous.  It also smacks of clinging to our colonial heritage. A creative way to enable the midwinter sadness in our country to be livened with a FESTIVAL, would be for the local churches to begin doing this.  How about :

  • Putting up lights around your church from June 20 to July 4
  • Inviting other churches, community groups, shops, residents, to do the same, and have early evening tours of the lights, instead of the late night summer ones.
  • Cooperating with other community groups in organising a community celebration, singalong, dance, concert, bonfire.
  • Offering special services to dispel the winter blues.
  • Having midwinter feasts in various homes.
  • Organising  midwinter indoor games.
  • Doing something...

Talk about some of these possibilities, see what captures the imagination of your group, and creatively plan to celebrate.

Reflect
Read again John 8:12.