The Light

In Christian tradition, Christmas celebrates a unique coming of Light into the world in the person of Jesus, the Christ (messiah, annointed one).  This seems to suggest that Earth, and perhaps by extension, the cosmos, existed in a state of darkness before this event.  In my thinking of God as eternal presence, with Light being a fundamental component of that presence, God/Light has been present through eternity, never varying in brightness and intensity except as we (humans) choose to suppress it. 

I believe that Jesus (and others) came to help us acknowledge and experience the Light, telling us that as we respond to the Light already resident within us (“you are the light of the world”), we draw nearer to the source of light, becoming part of a collective light that drives darkness away.  Our human inclination is to live in a darkness of fear which manifests in thoughts and actions that deny the unity and connectivity of creation.  Through precept and example, Jesus teaches us how we must live in order to move from darkness to light, a salvation process through which we experience liberation from fear to a joy of anticipation of enlightened living– Life in the Light.  As we become fearless, we become both beacons and reflectors of Light to our world and thereby agents in the establishment of God’s Kingdom of Shalom on Earth.

Is it possible that God’s Light, shining forth through us, is capable of establishing such a Kingdom?  As Christians, we say we believe that it does, and our prayers profess such a belief (“God make me an instrument of Thy peace ….”)  Does God need to intervene at some point in our history to make it so?  From our sacred texts and traditions, we can come to such a conclusion, but we cannot know collectively how, when, or where.  “In God’s own time,” we say, while worshipping a God we characterize as timeless, infinite, eternal.

If we deny the Light resident within us, what is our destiny?  Perhaps to continue our existence as people divided, living in dissonance and discord, hoping for Divine intercession, but with no certainty that it will happen except as derived from our individual life experiences, learnings, and needs.

As Jesus spoke of God’s Kingdom on Earth, I think he pointed us to our proper focus – our world, here and now.  In what appear to be at best incidental and incremental ways, we, as beacons and guardians of the Light, do make a positive difference as we work individually and together toward a world where compassion, equity, and justice are the lot of all and the suffering of oppression is no more.  It is reward enough in itself.  All else is failure, not God’s, but ours.

One person's thinking at a point in time, seeking that of others – yours.  I invite you to join the conversation.