Daily Scripture:

‘You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way, to give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins.

In the tender compassion of our God the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.’ (Luke 1.75-9)

Daily Reflection:

There are many who live in the darkness of fear at the present time, and the ‘shadow of death’ is something we are all too aware of.

What Zacharias (father of John the Baptist) foresees is not just a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel, but a magnificent new dawn, bringing us the knowledge - knowledge, not just a faint hope - of God’s love and compassion for us.

It is this certainty that enables us to walk in ‘the way of peace’, through faith in the loving mercy of the God who ‘so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son’.

In spite of everything the light still shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Revd Rosemary