All of the Light (Sleeping At Last)

"With golden string, our universe was clothed in light." 

Light, weaving through, holding together, brimming over all creation. And we, earth-children, illuminated dust, watching, waiting, seeking, longing for it in this season. We look at creation and even at ourselves, and sing along with the yearning refrain of today's song: 

“Let there be light (in me), 

Let there be light (in the world), 

Let me be right (oh, please).”

That all of us bear within ourselves infinite possibility, a spark of that divine light, this is the hope of incarnation, of a God who came to the world in human flesh.  The hope that God still chooses to be revealed in the world through our human flesh. That Christ, The Light, may "be born in us this day," as the old hymn says (and every day, one might add). That the Light shines not just in the darkness of some dichotomous world, disconnected from us; but the light shines in the shadowy places within us, too; illuminating us, revealing in us beauty, potential, belovedness.

Today we claim within ourselves this infinite possibility, we let the divine spark within us shine on. Shine On, refusing to surrender this identity, as Light-bearers, not to imposed inferiority or bad theologies, our brokenness or failures; none of these can squelch the light of God’s Love that has come among us.  We Shine On, knowing that so much of our hope-filled resistance hinges on learning how to see ourselves in light of our God. 

We keep that tenacious hope that the light is within us, among us, waiting to be stirred, seen, tended, grown. One of the things we can attest to here at AMP is that the light of God unfolds in unexpected places: a stable, a dream, a foreign land, office cubicles, street corners, youtube channels. The folks at rethinkchurch.org have invited people to an Advent photo-a-day project, in which they encourage everyone to take one photo each day that captures the theme of that day and share it (Check some of them out here https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/rethinkchristmas). Like them let us pause in these days, let us look, search, watch for the snatches of light hiding in plain sight, illuminating creation, announcing 'Christ comes!'

"The light shines in the darkness but the darkness has not understood it. " John 1:5 

In what ways does this season invite you to see and better understand the light that shines in you? in us? 

Infinity times infinity, is this the Light when shared between us? How could seeing the Light within and among  and around us transform our advent waiting?

God of Illumination, train our eyes to see in each moment, in each being, the glint of possibility and the sparks of your grace. 

-Lindsey

Welcome the Light! (Feist and Little Wings)

I like words. I like poetry and song lyrics and having good conversations. But I've also learned that some things - the very deeply difficult or profoundly joyful things - are beyond words.

In the best moments, before we simply fall silent in wonder, all we can manage is to exclaim. To shout for joy. To murmur in disbelief. To babble in delight.

Look!, we say. O, what a wonder...

Look at What the Light Did Now is a song I like without quite knowing why. It's nonsensical lyrics have no real thread of meaning, but play with words in a way that reminds me of Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky poem:

Look at what the light did now
Taste the taste I taste 'til it's tasted
                                                  Look at what the light did now

                                                                            Bought it like a boast that burly beaming
                                                                            Look at what the light did now

There's no direct meaning in this song, except for the repeated refrain: "Look at what the light did now!"

This is our week to look. Our week to fill our eyes with the wonder that happened so long ago in the Incarnation, in the God-With-Us still manifesting in our world today. We Welcome the Light this week, first of all, by exclaiming, "Look, look what The Light did now!" 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word was with God in the beginning. All things came into being through him; and without him not once 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. ... And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.  - John 1: 1-4, 14

And we have seen his glory. Sometimes in a glimpse, as from the corner of our eye, and sometimes straight on, as on a Christmas Eve or Christmas Day when we are lost in wonder, love and praise, speaking nonsense words of joy, or cooing like a mother, a father, bending over their miracle of a newborn. A strange song of hope rises anew in us as we recognize again that the power of God lies in vulnerability, the triumph of God lies in profound peace, and the reign of God lies in the absurdity of a newborn baby sleeping on straw with sheep.

Look at what The Light did now!

Look at What the Light Did Now by Little Wings feat. Feist. Lyrics HERE.

May The Light born at Christmas continue to dawn in you today, inspiring glorious nonsense, joyful noise, and songs of renewed hope.