Let You Light Shine!

My body is still in shock that Holy Week is officially in the history books.  I’m still trying to figure out where the time has gone.  This year is moving by way too fast for my liking.  Can’t we just push pause, or slow play and let the world move at a more relaxed pace?  If only it were that simple.  The fact is, life moves on and we must keep moving with it.

Speaking of looking ahead, next Sunday I will preach on the text 1 John 1:1-2:2.  I am immediately drawn to the concept that “God is light.”  The dualistic approach to theology, light versus darkness, has been misrepresented throughout our tradition.  I do not believe that what we call darkness is the absence of light.  It is in the “darkness” that we struggle during our most difficult times.

I tend to think of the light as that which lives within us.  The natural light that God gives to us is within our souls.  It illuminates our path.  We don’t need a light that scorches the earth and casts all manner of the absence of the sun as evil.  What we should be looking for is the Son that is within each of us.  The source of that light is what we need to brighten our paths.

I believe it is very dangerous to maintain a faith that demands absolute sunlight 24/7.  The fact is, there is darkness.  That is where we rest and find peace.  There are many good things that come from the time when even the earth is relieved of constant and blinding light.  At the creation of the world, God the author of the Book of Genesis did not refer to the absence of the sun as darkness in a negative connotation.  He wrote, “God made the stars and two great lights:  the larger light to rule over the day and the smaller light to rule over the night” (Gen. 1:16 CEB).  The idea of a “smaller light” suggests that there really never is true pitch black darkness.

For today, I see the notion of light as something that is a part of the very fabric of creation.  It is still present in the darkest of nights.  I also believe that the light of the Spirit is what brightens our paths as we travel through the time when the lesser light is shining.  We must utilize our inner light to journey through our darkest of times.  Praise be to God, who give us the victory!