While the event will have passed by the time you read this article, the day that I am putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) is the day that our country is voting on whether or not to impeach the 45th president of the United States. It does not matter where you stand on the politics of this nation, nor does it matter whether you pay any attention to what is happening in our nation’s capital. The fracturing of our country and democracy impacts all of us in some way. On many days it seems we have lost our way, drifted far from our neighbors, forgotten our need for each other, wandered down a path of righteous anger and stubborn ideology. A darkness has descended upon us. Or perhaps more accurately, a darkness has been uncovered as I suspect the place we find ourselves today has been there for a time but is now being revealed. So, darkness revealed. Which is all the more reason for us to fight mightily to reveal something counter to this darkness – to reveal the light.
Revealing light takes courage. It takes gumption and intention. It takes faith. Revealing light means standing not on one side or the other, but in the middle in order that all might be drawn to the center. Revealing light means rising above the darkness, to travel up a hill of Truth, to hold that candle high in order that others might see a greater reality. Revealing light means using the life and teachings of our faith, the belief in God’s mercy and goodness, as the foundation for that light. Revealing light means to play an essential role in today’s world.
In order to reveal this light, we need to be bearers of this light, to hold it and let it shine. Today, we need light-bearers.
It is the season of Epiphany, the period of time when we look up to see a star leading us to the greatest light of them all, Jesus Christ. So let us not delay in this important work. Let us bear witness to the Light of the World today.
I offer you this blessing, written by United Methodist Church minister, author and artist, Jan Richardson. May we all be the ones who can bear the light so that the light, not the darkness, shall overcome.
Blessed are you
who bear the light
in unbearable times,
who testify
to its endurance
amid the unendurable,
who bear witness
to its persistence
when everything seems
in shadow
and grief.
Blessed are you
in whom
the light lives,
in whom
the brightness blazes—
your heart
a chapel
an altar where
in the deepest night
can be seen
the fire that
shines forth in you
in unaccountable faith,
in stubborn hope,
in love that illumines
every broken thing
it finds.
Jan Richardson, Circle of Grace
~Lori+