Light. Real light. Sun light. No, that last one is not improperly spelled. It is separated differently than usual for a reason.
I have been working with and against it for nearly two weeks now it seems. The sun is always in the wrong place as I am driving. Mostly, it is too low on the horizon. And then it dawned on me. (Pun intended.) I need to pay attention to this much more than I am. Because I and we live in the most northern major city in Canada, we experience this phenomenon every year. It is the promise that happens every January that more light, each day, will eventually come to mean more heat. And the rhythms of nature that God established appear again. Now, at this point, I am not sure if we are going to get a January thaw or not. But I am mindful of light at this point in the year for two different reasons.
Yes, Epiphany. The light of the Son of God, Jesus the Christ breaking into the darkness of our world and our existence. I will not dwell here as I can go on and on about "Aha" moments of revelation. That's for another blog; another day. I am talking about an older coming of light. I found again Psalm 37:5 and 6 as I was searching for older liturgies that come from places like Luke 1. In that chapter we find two different passages that in older times we used regularly in our services. Both speak of the dawning and appearing of God in lives so transformed that they burst into song.
When God comes in, the light is more and different than the sun. It does not blind but reaches deep into our souls. Significant changes happen and we are changed forever. These are things we cannot un-see and changes we cannot un-change. And that is where I found myself this past week. Changed again by the promises, the hopes, the possibilities of 2023. We are almost a quarter of the way through this new century. That alone should give us pause. Those born in 2000 are approaching 25 and I find myself marveling at that too. The invitation is to stand before our God, before Jesus, before the Holy Spirit and invite them in to guide our lives in this new year. Will we accept that invitation or not? Pr. Scott
