Approachable Light

Martyn Payne

Bible links: John 1:9, 14; John 8:12; John 12:35-36

On Your Marks:

General introduction to the theme:

The Bible tells us that God is light and in God is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). This light is both the first gift of creation (Genesis 1:3) and the abiding reality of the new creation (Revelation 21:23). God’s light has never stopped and is reflected in the lives of individuals such as Moses, Deborah, Elijah, Isaiah and Paul. It shines, of course, most clearly in the life of Jesus, who is the light that shines in the darkness and the true light, which the darkness cannot overcome (John 1:5, 9). In the Gospels we read how Jesus shines his light into the lives of the people he touches and how he once gave his followers a glimpse of the glory of God’s light at the transfiguration. The light of Jesus reveals God and dispels all darkness, disarming it by the cross and resurrection. The story of the Bible is the triumph of light over dark for all who put their trust in Jesus, who calls them out of darkness into his marvellous light (1 Peter 2:9). It is this big Bible theme of light and dark that is explored in this session, linked to stories from The Barnabas Children’s Bible.

Introduction to the story:

Jesus reflected most perfectly the light of God: ‘He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of this nature’ (Hebrews 1:3, RSV). He was the approachable light of God for us on earth, enabling us to come close to God, who is the ‘Father of the heavenly lights’ (James 1:17, NIV), and the one who otherwise dwells ‘in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen nor can see’ (1 Timothy 6:16, NIV). Jesus shows us God and calls himself the light of the world. This is the light that enters into the deep darkness of Easter and emerges triumphant, enabling us to become the children of light we were always meant to be. From the little light in the hay in the Bethlehem stable, through the dazzling light on the Mount of Transfiguration, to the light of the resurrection morning, Jesus has reflected for us the light of heaven on earth. This is the theme of this session outline with activities linked to three aspects of the life of Jesus: his birth, his transfiguration and his resurrection.

Get Set:

Use parts of the retelling of the life of Jesus from The Barnabas Children’s Bible, especially stories 247 to 252, pages 218 to 222 for the birth of Jesus and story 278, page 246 for the Transfiguration.

Go:

1. Compare the brightness of different sorts of light, including the light of a match, the light from a candle, the light from a torch, the light from various bulbs (40, 60, 80, 100 watt) and a flash bulb. Intensity of light is measured in lumens ( lumen is the Latin for light).
Now ask the group to use their imaginations to think how much brighter the sun’s light is at close quarters to that any of the other giant stars in the universe.
All the light of God reflected in the lives his people are like these lesser lights compared to the full-blown light of God that is now revealed in Jesus.

And yet we also use the word ‘light’ in another sense: something not heavy but easy to carry.
Jesus is the full-blown brightness of God’s light, but when he came to earth he did not blind us with that light; we were able to bear it. Jesus is God’s approachable light.

2. Play some light and dark games:

project a light onto a wall and then introduce a variety of silhouettes of different objects and animals or even cut out an outline from a photograph of someone the children might know. Can they guess what or who each silhouette is? God’s light in Jesus shows up what we are truly like.
using blindfolds, challenge the children to accomplish certain tasks without being able to see what they are doing. Then allow them to do the task again but this time with guidance from a friend who can see. God’s light in Jesus helps us to find the way in life.
divide into teams and play a picture-guessing game, where one person at a time from each team goes to the leader to get a light-related word, which they must then go back to draw for the others to guess.
challenge the group to create some group sculptures of different light-related objects.
ask a group work out a freeze-frames of a situation in which light is very important. For example: exploring a dark cave; attracting the attention of rescuers from a lifeboat at sea; putting on a play in a theatre. Then challenge the group to re-create the freeze-frame showing what happens if the lights go out.

3. God turned on the brightness of his approachable light when Jesus was born in this world. In one of the prophecies from the book of Isaiah, we read what this arrival will be like.
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 shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
Isaiah 60:1-3 (NIV)

This light was first sung about on the hillside by the angels, then seen in the hay of the manger by the shepherds and also treasured in the hearts of Mary and Joseph.

Create a group collage to explore this understanding of Christmas by using bright yellow and black paper or yellow and black paints to illustrate:

the sun breaking out over the horizon
the bright lights of the angelic choir on the hillside
the glow from the stable in the back streets of Bethlehem
the breaking out of light in many places on a dark circle of the earth

4. Jesus shone light into the lives of all the people he met, bringing them healing, hope and wholeness. Perhaps the best illustration of this meeting with the light is seen in the opening of blind eyes that happened again and again.

Read together the story of blind Bartimaeus in Luke 18:35-43. (The blind beggar is named as Bartimaeus in Mark 10:46.)

It’s a great story to act out as a group with the loud shouting from Bartimaeus, the busy crowds milling around Jesus, the annoyed reactions of some of the people (including probably the disciples), Jesus’ own words to Bartimaeus and the excitement of the healing.

Step into this story with your group and capture the amazement of God’s light opening up blind eyes.

5. There’s one moment when Jesus allows three of his followers to catch a glimpse of the true brightness of his light. It happens on the Mount of Transfiguration (see Luke 9:28-36). Peter, James and John were overawed by the brightness of that light that shone through Jesus, who for a moment steps ‘out of this world’ and indeed ‘out of time’ to be seen standing with Moses and Elijah, both of whom also shone with God’s light in their generation.
There are famous icons of this particular scene. Print one of these from the web and see what your children make of this mysterious incident. There are no shadows in icons. Instead, the light comes out from the person of Christ himself to enlighten us. It is such a special event that Jesus tells his disciples not to talk about it until after the resurrection. Peter, we know, never forgot this experience—see 2 Peter 1:17-18.

6. A key verse for this session is John 8:12. Print this off in large block letters so the children can then use colours and materials of their own choice to interpret the words of this verse.

7. The light of God in Jesus had to ‘go out’ for a while (see John 12:35-36), as it plunges into the darkest places of suffering and death on the cross on Good Friday.

To end this session and give an opportunity for reflection on all that has been done, light a series of seven candles and then extinguish them one by one, as you briefly retell each part of the story of what happened on that day.
1. He was betrayed.
2. He was put on trial.
3. He was mocked.
4. He was tortured.
5. He was condemned to death.
6. He was put on a cross.
7. He died.

Pause after each extinguishing of a candle and watch the smoke drift off slowly to give space for reflection.

But the light of Christ is stronger than death. Now produce a new, larger candle, which you should place in the middle of the others after you have re-positioned them in a circle. On the ‘eighth day’—the beginning of the new creation—the light of Christ came back for us, forever.