We are now moving towards spring, when there will be longer days and shorter nights. I’m sure you will find it, like me, comforting to have more hours of light.

It led me to contemplate darkness. What is darkness? Physically, it does not exist; it is purely a lack of light.

Today, with our electric lights, torches and floodlights, there seems to be so much light that we talk about light pollution.

Yet 2,000 years ago there was no such thing. Light came from a candle or, more likely, a small oil lamp. They lit only a small area around them, creating more shadow than light. In the Bible we hear about a light for our feet — that was about as far as the light extended.

This is all very well in the physical sense, but I’m sure, like me, you find that darkness can be very real in an emotional or spiritual sense.

In the lyrics of the Paul Simon song The Sound of Silence, darkness is called an old friend. I personally do not find it friendly at all. My cares and woes seem to block any light available to my inner being. I need light.

When it gets dark at home we switch on the light, but when we have darkness within, it is more difficult to dispel. This is where good friends can come into their own — they can bring light into our darkness.

Christians are called to be light. As Jesus said, do not hide your light under a bushel, but put your lamp on a lampstand. He was not talking about physically lighting up the world, but illuminating the spirit.

In our Easter service we will carry the Paschal (or Easter) candle into a darkened church. It will illuminate the church, and those who follow with smaller lit candles will help dispel the darkness in the building. The large candle symbolises the light of Christ coming into a dark world. The smaller candles symbolise the call for all Christians to be a light in the world.

We are all called to help each other. Kind words, a smile, a nod, or simply listening can mean much to those suffering internal darkness. Can you be a light in their darkness?