Archbishop Cushley's Festive Thought for the Day
Archbishop Leo Cushley reflects on caring for others at Christmas and how children can often lead the way in acts of charity. Broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland on Thursday 21 December 2023.
Archbishop Leo Cushley reflects on caring for others at Christmas and how children can often lead the way in acts of charity. Broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland on Thursday 21 December 2023.
Ahead of Palm Sunday Archbishop Leo Cushey appeared on BBC Radio Scotland this morning (Friday 31 March) to give his Thought for the Day. Listen below or on our YouTube Channel.
Good morning!
I’m sure, like me, you occasionally hear folk say, “Now that is what gets me out of bed in the morning!”
But when the clocks go back or go forward, like they did last weekend, it makes me wonder: which do you prefer, the clocks going back or going forward?
Personally, I’ve recently noticed a thing: I think I like both of them…!
After the autumn equinox, when it’s getting definitely darker, an extra hour in bed is no bad thing to have, and when it’s dark, because we’re made the way we’re made, we are naturally inclined to rest. I sometimes wonder if our ancestors used to like to hibernate a bit….
But now, as the days get longer, there’s more light – and to state the obvious, the light wakens us up.
Because we’ve been built the way we’re built over many millennia, deep down somewhere, we kinda like that. So, that means getting out of bed when it’s light is a lot easier than when it’s dark – as anyone starting a nightshift will tell you. A
nd it’s funny how, if it’s light and you have a day off, it’s a lot easier to make a move early in the morning. Now, that’s something to get you out bed in the morning.
We also use light and dark in our language and in our culture in a moral way too.
This Sunday is Palm Sunday.
Christians at this time of the year ponder the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and his death on the Cross. Light and darkness are important motifs in the way the story is told among us.
We are confident that the death of Jesus took place in the spring and around this actual time of year, but there is also a providential element that as Jesus gives us the light of life, it happens as nature wakes up, and as we find ourselves springing just a little more willingly from our slumbers.
As the daffs emerge, the trees bud, and the bunnies abound, I hope the light of life and the longer days bring a renewed spring to your step too.
Archbishop Cushley gave the Thought for the Day on BBC Radio Scotland ths morning (Wednesday 21 December). Listen to it below or on YouTube. Transcript below video.
"Good morning!
The very earliest archaeological evidence – from perhaps as long ago as 11,000 years – tells us that human beings noticed what happens today a very long time ago.
That is because today is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year.
Several thousand years later, Roman Christians noticed it too.
They knew there was no exact date known for the birth of Jesus, but they couldn’t think of a better time of the year than now to remember his birth. And Christmas caught on…
At this time of the year, it has been getting darker and darker, and no one really likes that.
We’re creatures of warmth and light and we respond naturally to both.
The Greek storyteller Aesop tells the story of the sun and the wind arguing over who could make a man take his coat off. The wind tried first: he blew and blew, and instead of the man taking his coat off, he just wrapped it around himself more and more. The sun then shone upon him…and the man willingly took off the coat.
At Christmas, we celebrate how Jesus is the Light - and the loving warmth - of God, a light that cannot be overcome.
But there is little doubt that 2022 has not been a very happy one for the world’s peoples.
Brexit and Covid and inflation all loom over us. Above all, continental Europe, accustomed to 70 years of peace, has seen war break out.
We have a lot to concern us, and a lot of grown-up thinking and acting now before us.
Our ancient ancestors noticed that today is the darkest day of the year.
But they also noticed that it preceded a gradual change back towards the light and the warmth that we all need, that we all enjoy.
Christians take this dark before the dawn – this happy moment - and call it Christmas, because we see the birth of Jesus as a turning point, towards the good, towards God, towards the warmth and the light of God.
Things can and do change for the better. I hope they will for us all.
A merry Christmas when it comes!"