Light came into the darkness and closed the gap (From Dorset Echo)

Light came into the darkness and closed the gap

7:31am Saturday 27th December 2008 in News

By Rev Sally Bedborough, chaplain of the Weldmar Hospicecare Trust

WHEN Jupiter, Venus and the moon were all in a special alignment a few weeks ago, a picture appeared in some newspapers that looked like a face drawn between the celestial points of light, smiling down from above.

Jupiter and Venus were the planets reflecting light from our sun that looked like two bright eyes shining in the darkness while the moon was a shining melon-like slice that formed the smiling mouth.

The effect came about because of an unusual and fairly rare alignment of these heavenly bodies, all of which seemed to lie in the same plane – but the effect was deceiving.

Jupiter, in fact, was some 540 million miles away while Venus was only about 94 million miles from us.

The moon, of course, was a mere 252,000 miles away.

The factor that brought them all into focus was the light that closed these distances.

Working as part of a large team at the Weldmar Hospicecare Trust, distance is a common theme.

There is distance between the healthy and the sick, the living and the dead, between broken families and estranged people and, often, between hope and reality.

Above all, there can be distance between our image of God as loving and good and the very real sadness and distress felt by good people.

Within the gap there is sometimes anger, bewilderment, or numbness among other emotions.

With Christ’s birth, light came into darkness and closed the distance between God and humans.

It seems this world is still full of distance, mystery and inexplicable darkness. However, faith and the message of Christmas tell us that these gaps have been bridged although we still live in the midst of them.

Wherever light penetrates – into the human heart through kindness and forgiveness – distances are minimised and the presence of goodness is felt.

Apparently, Venus and the crescent moon will once again be in close alignment on New Year’s Eve.

In the darkness of that night, and in the year to come, may we look up and remember the Light that closes the distance.