VERY REV. LOGAN McMENAMIE
Regardless of our faith tradition, this is a very special season of the year. It is, first and foremost, a family time, a time to gather and share love as intimate community, to give thanks for each other and to give and receive the most important of gifts, love. It is also a time to reflect upon the wider community as we reach out beyond ourselves, and share that love with those in our community who lack the basic necessities of life. We see this outpouring at this time, and our hearts are filled with joy. A light shines that is beyond candles.
One of the most important experiences we have at this time of year is our gatherings. We gather in our places of worship, our places of work and our communities. Many people gather with those who are facing poverty and homelessness. We have annual rituals that we encounter and shape: rituals of gift-giving, meals, conversation, music and decoration. These rituals bring balance to our lives; they shape and form us into the people that we will become. Our rituals at any time of the year are important events for us, but especially in this season. A light shines that is beyond candles.
It is as if we are touched by something that it is beyond us. Is it the time of the year? Is it what we do or how we act? Is it the fact that we somehow become more attentive to our world, to others and even to ourselves? I believe that it is all of the above. What we are experiencing is beyond custom or tradition. We are brought into a deeper relationship with our humanity and with the divine. Regardless of our faith tradition, what we are experiencing in all of the above is spirituality and faith. A light shines that is beyond candles.
As we move into the celebration and rituals of the coming days, let us take time to remember that we are engaging in a spiritual experience. In doing so, we are drawn closer to the divine and to one another. In the Christian tradition, we use words such as Hope, Peace, Joy and Love.
In a world that sometimes seems overwhelmed with darkness, we light candles to remind ourselves of the one who was born as a vulnerable baby — the child who was born into the poverty and margins of a violent society and who lived on the margins. Our master leads us in the way of nonviolence and into the community of the poor and marginalized. A light shines that is beyond candles.
This light is for all. This light brings Hope, Peace, Joy and Love.
The Very Rev. Logan McMenamie is dean of Columbia and rector of Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria, and is bishop-elect for the Dicese of British Columbia. He is currently on a community sabbatical at the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society at the University of Victoria.
