Light is most effective in the darkness. I toured the coal mine in
Springhill, Nova Scotia when I was about twelve. At one point in the tour they
turned off the lights. The guide warned us that it was going to be absolutely
dark, perhaps darker than we could imagine. Well, I’d closed my eyes plenty of
time by then, so I didn’t think too much about the warning.
Then the lights went out!
I had never seen such darkness in all my life. Absolute darkness
is not like anything I’d ever experienced. It might have been just a few
seconds, it might have been an hour. I know it wasn’t an hour, but it might as
well have been. I reached out for a family member, who had been to my right. I
felt nothing, except alone, I felt alone.
Then the lights came on!
One small, low wattage lightbulb, and it was glorious. Never so
happy was I, to see such brilliance. I felt safe. I felt thankful. I reach for
a family member and made a connection. It was great. I appreciate light now, in
ways I probably never would have before seeing, ever so briefly, absolute
darkness.
Last week, I saw a political cartoon showing Barack Obama leaving
the oval office, flicking off the light switch. In the next panel, we see the
lights go out in all the United States. A bit too dramatic I guess, because
there is light, there is always light. No matter how dark things seem, there is
always light. It might be only a low wattage bulb, but the dimmest light
defeats darkness.
We are light.
If Jesus is (and he is) the light
of the world, then we, as the body of Christ, are bearers of light too. We can
be the light of the world by doing justice,
loving kindness, and walking humbly with God.
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