Celebrating The Light in The Darkness

Happy New Year!

        I hope you have been able to spend some time reflecting on the past year and looking forward to the year ahead.  One of my greatest hopes for all of my friends and family is good health in the year ahead.  Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, maybe it’s the healthcare calamity, or maybe it’s because I spend so much of my time with those who are sick, but I have come to realize that good health is one of our greatest and most significant blessings.   

        This truth came home to me during the month of December with two holiday gatherings that were powerful, poignant, and compelling.  Both were Christmas celebrations for cancer patients. 

        The first was the week after Thanksgiving when our church hosted a Christmas Dinner for patients of the Wake Forest Baptist Lexington Cancer Center.  This event is sponsored by Lexington Medical Center and is planned, coordinated, and implemented by Mary Miranda Clark, a cancer survivor who is a dedicated volunteer at the Cancer Center.  She actually started this Christmas tradition a number of years ago in her home and it has grown to the over 200 people who attended this Christmas. 

        It is a night of great joy, laughter, and hope.  Mary Miranda turns our fellowship hall into a winter wonderland.  The guests are treated to a delicious meal, to Christmas music, door prizes, and festive entertainment provided by the doctors and nurses of the Cancer Center.  For one special night cancer patients have a reason to smile and enjoy the holiday magic of the season. 

        Some of these same patients returned to our fellowship hall three weeks later when we hosted the Christmas party for Carolina Cancer Services that has just changed its name to Cancer Services of Davidson County.  Cancer is overwhelming whether one has adequate insurance and financial resources or not.  But when one is facing the trauma of cancer without insurance and without any resources, it is even more devastating.  These are the people who are served by Cancer Services of Davidson County.

        My wife, Joyce, and I watched and welcomed people as they made their way into the church, some struggling to make the short walk from their car.  Once again the guests were treated to Christmas music, delicious food, and holiday joy.   I listened as my son, Ray Nance, who is Director of Patient Services, talked to the patients about the light coming into the darkness—the true message of Christmas.  Looking around the room I saw people whose lives are surrounded by darkness, but on this night they had a message of hope and light.  I saw their smiles, heard their words of gratitude, and was blessed by their kindness.

        Over 1,700,000 Americans will be diagnosed with cancer this year.  Cancer is the second leading cause of death in our nation, surpassed only by heart disease.  Approximately 1,500 people in our nation will die every day of cancer.  You have over a one in three chance of having cancer in your lifetime.  You see, good health is such a rich blessing!

        As I reflect on this past Christmas, these two events stand out as highlights.  Our church has a beautiful Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion service in which we turn out all the lights and extinguish all the candles to experience a moment in the darkness.  As I stand in silence for a moment, absorbing the darkness in our packed sanctuary, I always think about people who are suffering, those with cancer, those who are terminally ill, and those whose lives have been shattered.  I talk about the darkness that preceded creation, but then I talk about the light because the first word of creation is light.  Let there be light!   And I light the Christ Candle to symbolize the coming of the light into a world of darkness. 

        Here’s a little secret.  I use one of those gas lighters, but I worry that it may not light.  So I have a pack of matches in my pocket—just in case!

        There are a lot of people suffering with cancer who have real worries about where they will find light.  We, who are blessed with light and health, can make a difference in their lives.  We can bless the lives of those who suffer like Mary Marinda does.  We can support Cancer Services of Davidson County.  We can share our blessings.

        I pray you will be blessed this New Year with light, health, and joy!