Preparation This Week
On your bare Christmas tree, hang strands of lights. White or clear lights are especially meaningful, though any color works. Do not add ornaments yet. Let the lit tree stand alone for the week — tree and light, nothing more. This week, the lights themselves are the message.
Do You See the Lights?
During my youth, once our Christmas tree was set up in our house, we immediately began to untangle the lights. My father, an aerospace engineer, always hung the lights — and generally left the hanging of ornaments and tinsel to those with less training and skill. Once the lights were hung, we would all step back and admire them for approximately thirty seconds before the rest of the family covered the tree with ornaments.
Soon, you could see neither tree nor lights clearly. The pure beauty of that lighted tree was never noticed by our family. It was the ornaments that stole all attention.
As an adult, I am reminded that the decorating of our Christmas tree is similar to how I have sometimes treated the light of God in my life. I cover it with so many other things that the light itself becomes invisible — buried under activity, comfort, entertainment, and even good intentions. The lights are still there. But I have stopped seeing them.
"When God first created the universe, before He had made anything else, He created light."M.J. Gallagher — Advent Christmas Tree Devotional
God Created Light First
When God first created the universe, before He had made anything else, He created light. Light precedes every other act of creation. It is the condition of all that follows. Before the sun and moon were set in the sky on the fourth day, there was light — God's own light, not borrowed from any star.
This is not a scientific curiosity to be explained away. It is a theological announcement: the God who rules all things is himself not dependent on anything He has made. He is the source. He is the light, and in Him is no darkness at all.
Into this narrative comes the birth of Jesus. John's Gospel opens not with a manger but with a declaration: "In the beginning was the Word... In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."
The Christmas lights on your tree are not decorations. They are a confession: the Light has come, and the darkness did not win.
Are you able to gaze upon God's holy light? Is this light the foundation of your life and your hope for the future? This week, allow the lights on your Christmas tree to remind you that God provided a way for you to walk in the light.
Scripture Readings for Week Two
- Genesis 1:1–5; 14–19 God creates light before all else, then the lights of the sky
- Job 3:1–26 Job laments in darkness — knowing the light exists, yet feeling lost within it
- Psalm 43:1–5 A prayer for God's light and truth to lead the way home
- Isaiah 9:1–7 "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light" — the promised Prince of Peace
- John 1:1–18 Jesus, the eternal Word, comes as the true Light into the world
- Luke 2:1–21 The account of Jesus' birth — the light enters the world in darkness and poverty
- Revelation 22:1–5 The new creation: no more night, no more candle — God himself is our light forever
Questions for Family Discussion
- What does it mean practically to "walk in the light"? What gets in the way?
- When in your life have you most clearly experienced God as light — as clarity, truth, or hope?
- What does it mean that at the end of all things, God himself will be our light and there will be no night?