Some thoughts in these days of Advent.
Children sometimes ask interesting questions. And we are well advised not to dismiss them as childish. Because deep in our heart there is still this child we once were - with questions we later considered clarified - or no longer dared to ask. For certain reasons.
Lets take a look on what’s out there. The unknown. Look at it trough the eyes of a child. Let’s try.
An example? When I look at the sky tonight on this special evening of the first sunday in advent, an old question comes into my mind: How far can we see? How far is the last star we can see with the naked, unaided eye? Well, this distant star is - Chi Aurigae. It is over 2000 light-years away. Which means - we see this star in a light, that was emitted 2000 years ago. And if there are residents in its system, they see our earth just as it was 2000 years ago.
We are sometimes scared about the vastness of space. Aren’t we? And - aren’t we scared, too, about the darkness in our world - and in the hearts of so many of our contemporaries? But there’s this special light. A light that began to shine 2000 years ago. A light - never extinguished. That will never happen. The light of Bethlehem - it still shines.
