VICAR'S LETTER

17 Sundon Road     
Streatley      

February, 2006      

Dear All 

The Church's Calendar between Christmas and Easter has a distinct pattern. First there come forty days celebrating the birth of Christ. This period begins on Christmas Day and runs to Candlemas (February 2). Then, after a short interval, there come the forty days of Lent, beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending on Palm Sunday. Finally there comes Holy Week with Good Friday and Easter Day. The best way to understand the meaning of this pattern is to think of it in terms of light and darkness.

The first forty days tell of the coming of the light. It is anticipated by Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, when he foresees the day

that shall dawn upon us from on high
to give light to those who sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

It is celebrated by the Gospel of John which salutes the coming of the One whose `life was the light of men'. It is re-affirmed by Simeon who recognises the child, brought by his parents to the Temple, as the one who will be `a light to lighten the Gentiles' and `the glory of your people, Israel'.

The second forty days focus on Jesus, the light, driving back the darkness. It is a battle against darkness in all its forms. Jesus takes on the darkness born of illness, mental and physical (Legion; the leper). He takes on the helplessness, loneliness, and grief that illness brings (the paralysed man; the deaf and dumb; Jairus). He tackles blindness, physical and spiritual (Bartimaeus; the Pharisees). He tackles the darkness bred of fear and guilt (the stilling of the storm; Zacchaeus). He tackles the spiritual darkness that is the product of inhumanity (the unforgiving servant), indifference (Dives and Lazarus), pride (the Pharisee and the publican), or greed (the prodigal son). He even takes on the darkness of death itself (Lazarus).

The conflict reaches its climax in the final days of Holy Week. From Palm Sunday to Maundy Thursday the tide turns against Jesus. Darkness mounts its counterattack. On Good Friday, that tide overwhelms him. With Jesus' death on the cross it looks as if the light has been extinguished. Matthew sees it as a reverse of the whole process of creation. Then, order was brought out of chaos by God's words `Let there be light'. Now, with the death of Jesus, the world reverts once more to darkness and chaos. At the sixth hour `darkness fell over the whole land'. At the ninth hour, the hour of Jesus' death, `the veil of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split'. But the victory is apparent rather than real. On Easter Day, Jesus rises. The light has proved inextinguishable.

The period between Christmas and Easter chronicles the battle between light and darkness. It is a battle that still goes on, but to all those engaged in that battle is offered a message of hope. It is the message summed up in the opening chapter of John:

`The light shines on in the darkness, and the
darkness will never master it.'

All best wishes,

Roger

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