FILO: Advent for the Church Technical ArtistChikamu

Today we are looking at a passage from Isaiah, chapter 60, verses 1-3.

“Arise, shine, for your light has come,

and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.

See, darkness covers the earth

and thick darkness is over the peoples,

but the Lord rises upon you

and his glory appears over you.

Nations will come to your light,

and kings to the brightness of your dawn.”

In a dark world, Christ arrives to shine a light in the darkness.

As technical artists in the local church, we know the effect lighting can have in a dark place. It directs our attention. It highlights something. It makes it more difficult to focus on the darkness.

Thinking about Christ’s coming in terms of lighting, what does it mean that he was a light in the darkness? Did he show up with a bunch of Syncrolite XLs focused on the manger? Or are we just talking about the star that the wise men followed?

See, darkness covers the earth

and thick darkness is over the peoples,

but the Lord rises upon you

and his glory appears over you.

As a fulfillment of the prophecy mentioned in the book of Isaiah, we fast forward to Paul in the New Testament, where he talks about what made Christ different from what the world knows. In Philippians 2:6-8 it says:

Who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

by becoming obedient to death—

even death on a cross!

Jesus’ version of light in the darkness comes from how He lived His life. He came to earth, lived and died, and rose again to show us how to live—the way to shine a light in the darkness.

As we prepare to celebrate Christ’s coming to earth, may we be a light in the darkness to those around us. Our neighbors, our co-workers, and our team. May we shine a light to draw people’s attention, not to us, but to Christ.

- Todd Elliott