Celebrate Light

As some of you may know, I am half Jewish by heritage. Growing up, we celebrated Passover and Hanukkah at my mom's parents' house each year. This year was no different. Hannukah, also known as The Festival of Lights, began at sundown on December 8th and lasted eight days.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the history behind Hanukkah, here's a quick recap:

Antiochus was king of the Syrian-Greeks in 165 BC. He wanted the Jews to stop worshiping Yahweh and bow down to the Greek gods instead. The Jewish Temple was seized by Syrian-Greek soldiers and dedicated to the worship of Zeus. They desecrated the Temple and killed many Jews. Eventually, against all odds, a small band of Jewish soldiers (called the Maccabees) defeated one of the mightiest armies on earth. They drove the Greeks away, reclaimed the Temple in Jerusalem, and rededicated it to God. 

When they found the Temple's menorah that was supposed to burn eternally at the altar, they saw that all the holy oil used to keep the lamp burning had been poured out. All that remained was enough to keep the lamp lit for one day. They lit the menorah and, miraculously, the lamp stayed lit for eight days... which was enough time to purify more oil to be used in the Temple. 

And so we celebrate the miracle of light.

This year, like always, we celebrated at my grandma's with the traditional meal of latkes and applesauce, a game of dreidel, chocolate gelt coins, and of course the lighting of the menorah candles.

The first Shamash candle is lit, and the blessing is sung.

Praised are You,

Our God, Ruler of the universe, 
Who made us holy through Your commandments 
and commanded us 
to kindle the Hanukkah lights
.

Later, after the meal, we played dreidel. This is game using a spinning top on which are inscribed the Hebrew letters nun, gimmel, hei, and shin. These letters are an acronym for Nes Gagol Hayah Sham, "a great miracle happened there."

A great miracle, indeed.

And now we prepare to celebrate Christmas. A celebration that is all about Light. We decorate houses, trees, and porch railings with strings of glowing lights and twinkly stars as we marvel in wonder at the Light come down to us. The Light's name is Immanuel, which of course means "God with us." Our hearts are the altar of worship, and it is His light that shines eternally within us.

And so we celebrate the miracle of light.
Which was a great miracle, indeed.

But in the midst of all this light, there is still darkness.

The recent tragedy from which our nation is still reeling and hearts are still breaking is only one evidence of this ugly truth.

Before parting ways for Christmas break, I hugged each one of my darling preschoolers a little tighter than usual. And I had a thought that I know I share with many teachers across America, "I would indeed lay down my life for any one of them."

When hearts are too heavy to bear... and when all of our questions boil down to just one: "Why?"... I'm reminded of a simple truth.

Jesus loves the little children. All the children of the world... They are precious in His sight.

Jesus loves the little children.

In fact, he loves each one of us.

He loves us so much that He was willing to lay down His life so that we might be saved and live. He chose to leave His throne in Heaven, give up His power as Almighty Creator, and be born as the most helpless, dependent creature on earth: a baby. Born to die so that we might live.

And that's Christmas, folks.

Jesus came into the darkness to be a light. In fact, He is the light of the world, and in Him there is no darkness. And there is no darkness in whoever believes in Him (John 12:46).

And God's plan for the Light in our hearts is that we go find darkness.
Take our Light and spread it all over until there is no more darkness.

That's a reason to celebrate!