Broken Light
“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.”
The beginning of John’s Gospel proclaims that Jesus is the light of the world and the darkness did not overcome him. His shimmering and shining presence to John is manifested throughout his gospel narrative from the moment of Jesus’ transfiguration on the holy mountain to his secret encounter at night with the powerful Jewish leader, Nicodemus. Oscillating between light and darkness, John recounts how the light of Christ pierced the darkness of despair, disbelief, and death.
Today’s Gospel lesson is part of a broader conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. This “Nick at Night” encounter exemplifies a person’s faith journey from darkness into light. At first Nicodemus is afraid to be seen with the so-called enemy, Jesus; but driven by the message of Jesus, he rises to the occasion, comes into the light as a disciple of Jesus, and claims his body for burial. Nicodemus’ faith triumphs. The light of Jesus broke through to him.
Looking back so long ago, when the elderly John wrote his Gospel from Ephesus, we know how his story ends with the risen Christ speaking to Thomas, to Peter and to the other disciples. Whatever darkness they saw, whatever fear they felt, was dissipated by the presence and the assuring words given to them by the Master. Yet, that light, that true light, appears now to be like broken light when we consider the events of the modern world today.
We do not have to go far to see how broken the light is when we read about the murders in Boston, the plight of the homeless and hungry in our Commonwealth, the illiteracy of boys and girls, and the rising crime in urban and suburban locations. We read in the papers and see on television the destruction of towns and lives in far off places like Syria and Africa.
I sat with a parishioner last week that shared with me her concerns for the world. She is sad to the point of anger seeing the malice and violence so prevalent in so many places. She sees the injustice in the world and asks how can God allow such terrible things to happen. If God is all-powerful why does God seem so powerless to do something about it? Her question is not hers alone. Like my parishioner, we hope and pray for a better world, a peaceful world, for all people in our time and in the future.
Several weeks ago, I saw that ray of hope, a light shining in the darkness when I viewed a documentary film called “My So Called Enemy” by the Emmy award winning director, Lisa Gossels. The film chronicles and traces the journey of six girls of Israeli and Palestinian heritage who meet in 2002 for ten days at a women’s leadership program called Building Bridges for Peace. Getting to know their “enemies” as human beings complicates their lives for the next seven years as they return to the Middle East and confront the realities of their lives at home.
The central message of “My So Called Enemy” is the transformative power of knowing “the other” or “the enemy” as a human being. This is movingly told through the abiding friendship between Gal, an Israeli, and Rezan, a Palestinian. “If peace is going to happen in the Middle East,” says the founder of Building Bridges for Peace, Melodye Feldman, women have to be part of the process. Women have a different way of communicating. How do we empower these girls to change the world?”
At the conclusion of the film after many months apart we see Gal and Rezan reunited on the Palestinian side of the Security Wall in the town of Al Zaiem where Rezan lives. Gal is an Israeli soldier in the army but wears civilian clothes as not to draw attention that she is with a Palestinian friend. The security wall is meant to divide such relationships.
As they stand by the 10-foot tall concrete wall, Gal and Rezan dare each other to write some graffiti on the wall since the wall has become a writing wall for the Palestinians. It is arrayed with brightly covered words sprayed on the concrete. With a stone the young women write the words of the great peacemaker, Gandhi, “Be the change you wish to see the world.”
We live in a world of broken light. We live in the fractured light between war and peace, love and hate, despair and hope. Yet, the light shines through young women like Gal and Rezan and the film’s director Lisa. It still shines, however, dimly, whenever a man or woman tries to comfort, console, and heal those in need. A beam of light is illuminated when someone takes a stand, risks themselves to do what is right, and does not back down in the face of adversity.
Be the change you wish to see the world.
Reflecting upon our Gospel lesson, we are able to see how this light shines in the world through Jesus Christ when we remember the words, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.” God so loved the world. Those words remind me of the poem by the Welsh poet, R. S. Thomas, called “The Coming,”
Was it not divine love, not calculating the cost, when the people rebelled, captured by the Babylonians, but saved and returned to Jerusalem to rebuild their Temple and their lives? Was it not God’s love that sent Jesus, his only Son, to love into being not only family and friends but also the alien and the stranger? Was it not love that brought table fellowship to both Jew and Gentile alike? Is there enough love to make a difference today?
It is quite common to speak of the world in terms of scarcity and abundance. We look at the world’s fragile and dwindling resources such as fresh air to breathe and good water to drink. We read about the destruction of the rain forests in South America, the disappearing wetlands of Africa, and the pan skillet heat in deserts where crops once grew. Scarcity breeds not only starvation and disease, it enhances fear, worry and violence. In the face of scarcity, is it possible to think in terms of abundance?
There was a time when God provided just enough manna each day. No hoarding. Just take what you need. The people came to believe that God’s love was abundant. And in that sure knowledge, they kept on, remembered, and found the Promise Land.
What we have in abundance in an age of scarcity is God’s love. Just as the Israelites were given manna from heaven every day, the Spirit will give us the spiritual food to envision and seek to create a more perfect world.
Can we be bold enough to dream the good dreams of God in an age of anxiety? Imagine a world in which God’s love is tearing down the walls of division and discord. Imagine a world where Gal and Rezan can walk freely as friends in Israel. Imagine a world where there is no hungry mouth to feed. Imagine a world where the weight of glory is hung on every shoulder – every shoulder – whether Iranian, Israeli, Afghani, American. Imagine a world where love is so abundant that no one can ever forget what the shape of love looks like.
God so loves the world… God so loves the world… Biblical history bends toward love. Let us bend our heart and minds towards justice and mercy and pour out God’s love with whomever and wherever we may be; and be the change you wish to see the world.
Let us pray:
Loving God, in your dream of Creation, you made us in your image. Through your Son, Jesus, you showed us the enduring mystery and majesty of your desire to be one with us. Guide us we pray to be worthy of your trust and to see your face in all people and in all things. Grant us your peace and restore within us the wisdom knowing that all things begin, continue, and end you. All this we ask in the Name of Jesus, your Son, our Lord. Amen.
The beginning of John’s Gospel proclaims that Jesus is the light of the world and the darkness did not overcome him. His shimmering and shining presence to John is manifested throughout his gospel narrative from the moment of Jesus’ transfiguration on the holy mountain to his secret encounter at night with the powerful Jewish leader, Nicodemus. Oscillating between light and darkness, John recounts how the light of Christ pierced the darkness of despair, disbelief, and death.
Today’s Gospel lesson is part of a broader conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. This “Nick at Night” encounter exemplifies a person’s faith journey from darkness into light. At first Nicodemus is afraid to be seen with the so-called enemy, Jesus; but driven by the message of Jesus, he rises to the occasion, comes into the light as a disciple of Jesus, and claims his body for burial. Nicodemus’ faith triumphs. The light of Jesus broke through to him.
Looking back so long ago, when the elderly John wrote his Gospel from Ephesus, we know how his story ends with the risen Christ speaking to Thomas, to Peter and to the other disciples. Whatever darkness they saw, whatever fear they felt, was dissipated by the presence and the assuring words given to them by the Master. Yet, that light, that true light, appears now to be like broken light when we consider the events of the modern world today.
We do not have to go far to see how broken the light is when we read about the murders in Boston, the plight of the homeless and hungry in our Commonwealth, the illiteracy of boys and girls, and the rising crime in urban and suburban locations. We read in the papers and see on television the destruction of towns and lives in far off places like Syria and Africa.
I sat with a parishioner last week that shared with me her concerns for the world. She is sad to the point of anger seeing the malice and violence so prevalent in so many places. She sees the injustice in the world and asks how can God allow such terrible things to happen. If God is all-powerful why does God seem so powerless to do something about it? Her question is not hers alone. Like my parishioner, we hope and pray for a better world, a peaceful world, for all people in our time and in the future.
Several weeks ago, I saw that ray of hope, a light shining in the darkness when I viewed a documentary film called “My So Called Enemy” by the Emmy award winning director, Lisa Gossels. The film chronicles and traces the journey of six girls of Israeli and Palestinian heritage who meet in 2002 for ten days at a women’s leadership program called Building Bridges for Peace. Getting to know their “enemies” as human beings complicates their lives for the next seven years as they return to the Middle East and confront the realities of their lives at home.
The central message of “My So Called Enemy” is the transformative power of knowing “the other” or “the enemy” as a human being. This is movingly told through the abiding friendship between Gal, an Israeli, and Rezan, a Palestinian. “If peace is going to happen in the Middle East,” says the founder of Building Bridges for Peace, Melodye Feldman, women have to be part of the process. Women have a different way of communicating. How do we empower these girls to change the world?”
At the conclusion of the film after many months apart we see Gal and Rezan reunited on the Palestinian side of the Security Wall in the town of Al Zaiem where Rezan lives. Gal is an Israeli soldier in the army but wears civilian clothes as not to draw attention that she is with a Palestinian friend. The security wall is meant to divide such relationships.
As they stand by the 10-foot tall concrete wall, Gal and Rezan dare each other to write some graffiti on the wall since the wall has become a writing wall for the Palestinians. It is arrayed with brightly covered words sprayed on the concrete. With a stone the young women write the words of the great peacemaker, Gandhi, “Be the change you wish to see the world.”
We live in a world of broken light. We live in the fractured light between war and peace, love and hate, despair and hope. Yet, the light shines through young women like Gal and Rezan and the film’s director Lisa. It still shines, however, dimly, whenever a man or woman tries to comfort, console, and heal those in need. A beam of light is illuminated when someone takes a stand, risks themselves to do what is right, and does not back down in the face of adversity.
Be the change you wish to see the world.
Reflecting upon our Gospel lesson, we are able to see how this light shines in the world through Jesus Christ when we remember the words, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.” God so loved the world. Those words remind me of the poem by the Welsh poet, R. S. Thomas, called “The Coming,”
And God held in his hand
A small globe. Look, he said.
The son looked. Far off.
As through water. He saw
A scorched land of fierce
Colour. The light burned
There; crusted buildings
Cast their shadows; a bright
Serpent, a river
Uncoiled itself, radiant
With slime.
On a bareIs it possible to read the Bible, from the creation in the Garden to the end of history in a City, as God’s love story to the world? Was it not love that stirred God’s heart to promise to Abraham and Sarah descendants more numerous than the stars? Was it not love that led the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt to liberation in the Promised Land?
Hill a bare tree saddened
The sky. Many people
Held out their thin arms
To it, as though waiting
For a vanished April
To return to its crossed
Boughs. The son watched
Them. Let me go there, he said.
Was it not divine love, not calculating the cost, when the people rebelled, captured by the Babylonians, but saved and returned to Jerusalem to rebuild their Temple and their lives? Was it not God’s love that sent Jesus, his only Son, to love into being not only family and friends but also the alien and the stranger? Was it not love that brought table fellowship to both Jew and Gentile alike? Is there enough love to make a difference today?
It is quite common to speak of the world in terms of scarcity and abundance. We look at the world’s fragile and dwindling resources such as fresh air to breathe and good water to drink. We read about the destruction of the rain forests in South America, the disappearing wetlands of Africa, and the pan skillet heat in deserts where crops once grew. Scarcity breeds not only starvation and disease, it enhances fear, worry and violence. In the face of scarcity, is it possible to think in terms of abundance?
There was a time when God provided just enough manna each day. No hoarding. Just take what you need. The people came to believe that God’s love was abundant. And in that sure knowledge, they kept on, remembered, and found the Promise Land.
What we have in abundance in an age of scarcity is God’s love. Just as the Israelites were given manna from heaven every day, the Spirit will give us the spiritual food to envision and seek to create a more perfect world.
Can we be bold enough to dream the good dreams of God in an age of anxiety? Imagine a world in which God’s love is tearing down the walls of division and discord. Imagine a world where Gal and Rezan can walk freely as friends in Israel. Imagine a world where there is no hungry mouth to feed. Imagine a world where the weight of glory is hung on every shoulder – every shoulder – whether Iranian, Israeli, Afghani, American. Imagine a world where love is so abundant that no one can ever forget what the shape of love looks like.
God so loves the world… God so loves the world… Biblical history bends toward love. Let us bend our heart and minds towards justice and mercy and pour out God’s love with whomever and wherever we may be; and be the change you wish to see the world.
Let us pray:
Loving God, in your dream of Creation, you made us in your image. Through your Son, Jesus, you showed us the enduring mystery and majesty of your desire to be one with us. Guide us we pray to be worthy of your trust and to see your face in all people and in all things. Grant us your peace and restore within us the wisdom knowing that all things begin, continue, and end you. All this we ask in the Name of Jesus, your Son, our Lord. Amen.
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