John
12:46 I
have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should
not remain in the darkness.
John
8:12 Again
Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me
will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
John
3:19-21 And
this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved
darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For
all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their
deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come
to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in
God.
Luke 2:32
a
light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.
Isaiah
9:2 The
people who walked in darkness have seen a
great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined.
those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined.
John
1:3-9 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. There was a
man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness
to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He
himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The
true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
‘Light is a range of wavelengths in the
electromagnetic spectrum that are visible to the human eye,’ says landscape
photographer David Taylor in his book Mastering
Landscape Photography.
‘The range starts at a wavelength of
approximately 700 nanometers and ends at approximately 390nm (other animals,
notably insects, can perceive wavelengths outside this range). When visible
light is shone through a prism the various wavelengths are separated into the
colours of the spectrum. The longest visible wavelength (700nm) corresponds to
the colour we perceive as red. The other colours – orange, yellow, green, blue
and indigo – have decreasingly shorter wavelengths until you reach the shortest
wavelength of visible light, which corresponds to the colour violet.’
In photography, there is no such thing
as bad light; merely bad use of the light.
Light can be harsh or soft, depending
upon time of day or locality. Light can be diffuse or focused, it can
illuminate or flood, it can cast heavy shadows or hardly any. The mastery of
photographic technique is nearly all to do with learning how to handle light.
The enemy of photography is only utter and complete darkness.
A landscape photographer seeks to get to
know not only how to respond to light using the various stops on the camera
shutter, but how the landscape responds to light. She will study with a
lovingly observant eye how the light falls on a tree or rock or mountain or
seascape at different times of the day, month and year. This requires patience,
attention to detail and an awareness of not just the particularity of a scene
but the large-scale grandeur of the panoramic vista. Landscape photographers
are light-seekers.
If there is one thing that Jesus says
about himself repeatedly it is that he is the one true light. Four of the six
bible passages chosen to help us today come from John’s Gospel. Light and Dark
is a big theme of John’s extended meditation on Jesus, as is the theme of
Seeing and Not Seeing. Jesus has come into the world for metaphorical
light-seekers.
Light-seekers are after truth, reality,
the actual and not a fantasy or delusion. But light-seekers are also open to
mystery, beauty and things that cannot be controlled. A photographer cannot
control the weather or the sun’s rays, they can only learn how to respond to
them. Jesus says that there is nothing that the world can do about his
existence as the Light of the World. It is a fact. What Jesus invites
light-seekers to do is step into the light: to respond to the light, not run
away from it and back into the shadows. And by emerging into the light, Jesus
is said to bring us life. Skulking in the shadows we are lonely and hiding. Out
in the light we find others also coming to terms with all that light reveals. We may have to overcome our own fears about how Christ will receive
us. Is this light too searching? Is it too revealing? Can I bravely accept that
Christ will still love me when all is revealed and is known about me? Will
others receive me too? Will I have the courage to accept this truth?
It is often said that photographers
‘take’, ‘capture’ or ‘shoot’ a photo. But mystics teach us that we have no
power to take or capture anything. All we can do is receive, respond and love. We don't so much see as receive light. We don't so much look at something as receive its reality.
And indeed, that is exactly what happens when we see with light. We cannot own the light. Our eyes
receive the light. For that to happen we have to let go of the mistaken belief that we generate our own light. We depend entirely upon the light generated by Christ.
May this light shine on us, in us and through us. And may we begin to receive the wavelengths of Christ's light that is not always visible to the human eye that does not seek the light.
May this light shine on us, in us and through us. And may we begin to receive the wavelengths of Christ's light that is not always visible to the human eye that does not seek the light.
This morning a group of 6 of us went on a prayer walk around the boundary of our parish. We were particularly praying for the light of Christ to fill the parish, to look for signs of light, and to notice any signs of darkness, sharing with one another at the 4 corners of the parish. So what did God show us?
ReplyDeleteLight was seen in the life as people gathered in shops often situated at roundabouts; at a school nursery; in the green spaces of Warley Woods and Thimblemill Brook; in the word spoken in tongues of God's glory (the Shekinah); in the fellowship of one another; in encouragement given about how the light is always present but experienced differently at different times of the day and year; a human face.
Darkness was perceived in the abundance of litter; the feeling of emptiness in some roads; the intrusive noise of heavy traffic; the way some roads felt just like thorough fares rather than communities; the lack of and invisibility of people in some roads; the arbitrariness of parish boundaries.
I found the noise in particular was a heavy bombardment on my feeling of well being. So it's rather fortuitous than I'm now off to Stamford Arts Centre to watch a film called "In Pursuit of Silence". Light can be found in silence. Here's a taster of the film:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDTxstUyrM8
Our walk concluded by praying for our church with these words, adapted, by David Adam:
Christ, light of the world,
let this church be a still place of light,
a still place of love,
a still place of peace,
a still place of presence.
Through us let your light shine,
let your love enfold,
let your peace fill.
let your presence be known. Amen.
Paul talks about light and photography in the main blog. In thinking about these bible verses my immediate reaction to Jesus as the True Light, was similar but identical. I have just come from giving local history talk at Bleakhouse Library using a digital projector. In the good old days there was a physical photograph to project, a 35mm slide in the days of slide projectors, a photograph in the days of epidiascopes, and a hand-painted glass slide in the days of magic lanterns. Nowadays, the picture is not physical at all, just a file of binary data on my notebook computer – that makes it seem more magical than ever! An image created from nothing but light itself and the computer’s mysterious file of 0s and 1s; even more magical than a magical lantern!
ReplyDeleteWe could see the pictures before we drew the blinds down and put out the lights, but the image was dull, and we needed to reduce the other lights to see the images clearly. Then the one true light in the projector made the image clear and meaningful. The story could be told and, I hope, understood by those looking on.
In a different context, Jesus claimed to be the true light, illuminating the story of creation and living in a new way (most notably John 1, 1-9). The reality of God’s love had been revealed before through Moses giving the law, through the prophets, and through the gradual understanding of the Jewish people in the records of the Old Testament. They did their best to spread the light of God’s love, but they only had the light of dim bulbs and faint images. Now in Jesus we have the latest technology, the brightest of beams and the best picture to project the image of God’s love for us on to the world. In him we have lots more candle power and a constant unflickering light. The image is clear even in our light-polluted days.
That uncreated light of Christ enables a most wonderful story to be told; it offers a new vision, it increases the contrast between light and dark, illustrates a new way to live, and sets a new standard for truth and beauty. It shines into the darker recesses of the moral world around us, the ways in which we treat one another: the dehumanisation of so many people in the world as units of production or consumption or statistics and target in the NHS; the alienation of people living ‘over there’ on the other side of an arbitrary border or expressing a different faith; it makes dark skin shine as brightly as light skin. It shines out with a spiritual light, and has never been extinguished by the darkness. We don’t have to draw down any blinds or extinguish all other lights to see the clear image it presents. That is the light of the gospel, the True Light, brought to us by Jesus who walked this earth, and who was resurrected as the Christ bearing the Christ-light.
Once we ‘see the light’ and accept Christ, and he is indwelling in our beings, his light projects a new image on to our hearts. We are changed from darkness into light, from egocentric to thoughtful for others, from acquisitive to generous – whatever the change we need in our particular heart, life and character. May we who are touched by the Christ-light all become bright, clear projectors of God’s love and Christ’s light into a world that still harbours so much hatred and darkness, that were never part of God’s plan for the world.
And, in this day and age, try to be an energy-efficient Christian, generating as much light as possible using the minimum of amount of energy!
ReplyDeleteIn the Bible, light represents what is good, and darkness, what is evil.
When Jesus the true light of the world shone upon people, he brought healing and forgiveness. He brought tolerance. The pharisees brought the lady they claimed to have caught in adultery , but Jesus shone his light upon her, bringing her forgiveness. He also exposed what was hidden in the hearts of those judging her, bringing to light what was concealed.
"For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness', make his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ". 2 Cor 4:6
We may try to show up people in a false light, but when Jesus enters our life, he reveals us in a true light and we come to acknowledge that light. The life of William Wilberforce exemplifies this in his crusade to abolish slave trade. When the general public were made to believe that the slaves were treated well and given a better life, he exposed the truth. Wilberforce lived these verses from Ephesians 5:8-11.
"For once you were in darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light, for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth; and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them."
Jesus said in John 8:12,
" Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
In the darkest times of my life, it is this knowledge, and my good friends of faith, that encouraged and sustained me.
Reciting these verses from Psalm 139 helped me to face up to my own shortcomings. I felt as though a light had been placed to shine upon some of the things I needed to change:
" Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."
The false light in our world is also a reality. This is when we think we are in the right, in God's light, but are not really in it. Lucifer was the Angel of Light, but as a fallen angel, he is the angel of false light. 2 Cor 11: 14
Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.
Thinking about the significance of light in other religions, I found a wonderful explanation of " Diwali" from imb.org.
"The term diwali derives from ancient Sanskrit, meaning “row of lamps.” The lighting of oil lamps during festival season represents the inner light, or atman, residing in the soul. Each person’s atman is believed to be an extension of the ultimate divine being himself, Brahman. For Hindus, awareness of one’s atman leads to freedom from spiritual darkness, victory over evil, and the dissipation of ignorance that hinders true knowledge of self, love, and joy."
I was reminded of Matt 6: 22,23
"The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If, therefore, the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness."
1Cor 13:12
For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.