Sunday’s Supermoon, Irvine’s Light Festival illuminations, fireworks & 200+ carollers lit up Harbourside as we celebrated the Light of Christ’s Love. Boosted by Irvine & Dreghorn Brass & Dreghorn Musical Society’s choir, we belted out Christ’s praise on Advent’s first Sunday.

Congratulations to the Scottish Maritime Museum (SMM) on another great show of colour, community spirit and light! The SMM happily encouraged our short film on ‘lighting lives’, journeying with people from isolation into community, and its showcasing at the carol service. And, praise God, it all came together on a mild, dry December evening. A Crieff friend lent us the outdoor screen & projector and between Irvine Beat FM & our own Tech-folk the show went without a hitch.

There is so much goodwill around Irvine and Shoes Bro’s ‘This Little Light of Mine’ video celebrates it, encouraging us to shout it from the rooftops and share it in the darkest alleys of our town and land. View & download the film from ‘Fullonart’ Youtube channel or ‘Shoes Brothers Dance – SBD’ Facebook page, & download the song from fullarton.connexions.co.uk

We can easily hog Christmas to ourselves, shnaffle all the chocolate from our Advent calendar & only give presents to friends & family. The ‘true light that lightens everyone’, that comes into the world through Christ, shines well beyond self and ‘my own circle’. In Loudoun Montgomery primary school’s SU group and Fullarton Sunday School our kids are getting a real buzz from ‘RACKing’. The advent calendar challenge each day, is to surprise someone with a ‘Random Act of Christmas Kindness’ (RACK) and find that (as Jesus said) There’s more joy in giving than receiving!

Here are some of the RACKs the kids are plotting to unleash on their unsuspecting neighbourhoods: 1. Tidy room without being asked! 2. Take bins out, or back in. 3. Sort toys and give away those you’ve grown out of to someone younger. 4. Make breakfast (in bed?) for someone. 5. Write a Christmas card and deliver or send it. 6. Thank the dinner ladies for lunch. 7. Secretly empty the dishwasher and put all the stuff away. 8. Write thank you note to someone who works hard e.g. social worker/step dad. 9. Share something of yours with someone else. 10. Look for someone on their own in the playground and play with them. 11. Share your snack. 12. Bake something and take it to someone who is ill/on their own. 13. Leave a packet of sweets (and RACKed note) in someone’s tray at school. Etc.

Along with kindness you can leave a ‘You’ve been rack’d’ card in the hope sharing a smile. And so unexpected smiles are lighting up around town as these youngsters go wild blessing others. It’s humbling to see how excited these kids are about RACKing and spreading the light of Christ’s Love.

So, how about joining the RACK craze?

‘This little light of mine I’m gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!!!’