Fading Light

"John was like a lamp, burning and shining, and you were willing for a while to enjoy his light." John 5:35

When our oldest daughter was very small, maybe two or three, she rarely napped and we struggled with putting her to bed. She was, and is, bright and full of life and wanted to be in the center of things. One night when we were putting her to bed and turning out the light she shouted at me through her tears, "I love the light, I hate the darkness!" I always knew children were close to God, but I realized that many are theologians, or at least this child was showing great promise. Emily's childhood words echo through history and time. We need the light, God, we loathe the darkness. We desperately want God's light in our life and raise up in anger when we face dark times.

Jesus has just healed a man at the temple, and he was trying to explain the gifts of light that generations of Jews had received through their relationship with God. And he was pointing out how easily we humans lose our trust when times are challenging, when darkness settles in. And yet, there is also the promise in his words that there is a need for darkness...for us to believe in rebirth and resurrection.

As I am now in Kanuga, waiting for the beginning of the House of Bishops, I am thinking how hard it is for us as humans to go through thin times, dark and challenging times, and how easy it is for us to lose faith. And, I also know that these times prepare us for receiving the light again, for embracing the joy, the renewal that is to come. I pray today that we may face the darker times together, holding one another in prayer so that we might together receive the new life that is to come. May we all know this day that God is moving and working in the darkness on our behalf. God is loving and healing even when we cannot see. May we walk in the fading light knowing God's dawn of love and renewal is at hand.