Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
Isaiah 60:1-3
The use of 'light' or 'darkness' in scripture has stood as a powerful image or metaphor throughout the ages. Who of us hasn't been in a basement or a mall when the power went out? In the moment before emergency lighting came on, what were you thinking? feeling?
And there is the very revelatory aspect, as light in a room reveals where the potential obstacles are placed. (And in the reverse: it reveals where the lost coin has rolled or 'the way' to go.)
But what about the misuse of these images, the ways they have been misapplied? They are an imperfect attempt at describing the character of God and God's relationship to creation. This is no warrant for creating a human 'pecking order' built on the shade of one's skin or hair or eyes.
The propsed solution has been just avoid all use of 'light' and 'dark' imagery in our liturgy and preaching. But what richness we lose if we do that.
And even more: we only treat the symptom, not the disease. Until we can look at all people with our eyes truly size/shape blind AND colorblind, and all people can truly sense that is how they are being seen, we have accomplished nothing. We have failed to be mini epiphany of the Epiphany. (see Bruce Prewer: Resources for Common Lectionary: Epiphany)
And so the questions I hear from this text are: Have YOU welcomed the light? Have YOU risen up? Are you shining brightly on ALL people?
 | ||
| My light is most like that of the moon |
 |
| Fort Pitt Tunnel, Pittsburgh PA |
 | ||
| Isle of Mull, Scotland |
 |
| along the PA Turnpike |
 |
| New Year's Eve Sunset, 2010 |
 | ||
| Along the Amos K. Hutchins Bypass |
 |
| Father's Day 2009 |
No comments:
Post a Comment