One thing that is implicit in the idea of light, is that it cannot exist side by side with darkness. To be in the light is to have come out of the darkness - to be distinct, separate and apart from the shadows., to be what the Bible calls “holy”. Darkness remains darkness, until the light shines, and then it is can no longer be called darkness. So when it says that God is Light, and that in Him there is no darkness at all, you have to ask the question, who can live with this kind of truth, knowing the sort of people we really are.
John says “This is the verdict Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil” . We run from that which can heal us because we don’t know how we can live there.
The human condition, in reality, is a mixture of every shade of black and grey, and, like a Rembrandt painting, the layers of darkness are there to point through to and lead the viewer into the central subject matter that is bathed in light. Lent leads us through the deep darkness of peering into our own souls and finding only the darkness of self centredness, pride, anger and lust.
John says “This is the verdict Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil” . We run from that which can heal us because we don’t know how we can live there.
The human condition, in reality, is a mixture of every shade of black and grey, and, like a Rembrandt painting, the layers of darkness are there to point through to and lead the viewer into the central subject matter that is bathed in light. Lent leads us through the deep darkness of peering into our own souls and finding only the darkness of self centredness, pride, anger and lust.
Through the storm we reach the shoreYou give it all but I want moreAnd I'm waiting..... for you.............................................With or without youWith or without youI can't liveWith or without you
The lyric from the U2 song somehow catches the predicament we’re in. We can’t live as we are within this unbearable light of the divine presence, and yet we can’t live without it. Because there is no ultimate life to be found outside of the God who sustains everything.
So the dark night of lent yields to the clear dawn of understanding that the whole Christ event, the dying, the suffering, the giving of himself as a sacrifice, together with the rising again, is all framed in order that we might shake off our sinful selves, and be renewed and bathed in the holy light of his resurrection life.
There is a setting of Psalm 51, a glorious piece of choral music, called the Miserere, written by Gregorio Allegri in 1638, which was used during services of Lent at that time. The services called “tenebrae” (darkness) were held in the early hours of the morning, and would start with 27 candles burning and each would be extinguished one at a time until but one remained burning.
So the dark night of lent yields to the clear dawn of understanding that the whole Christ event, the dying, the suffering, the giving of himself as a sacrifice, together with the rising again, is all framed in order that we might shake off our sinful selves, and be renewed and bathed in the holy light of his resurrection life.
There is a setting of Psalm 51, a glorious piece of choral music, called the Miserere, written by Gregorio Allegri in 1638, which was used during services of Lent at that time. The services called “tenebrae” (darkness) were held in the early hours of the morning, and would start with 27 candles burning and each would be extinguished one at a time until but one remained burning.
1 Have mercy on me, O God,according to your unfailing love;according to your great compassionblot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquityand cleanse me from my sin.
9 Hide your face from my sinsand blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presenceor take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvationand grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me
Lent leads us in and through the darkness of our own sinful selves, to find a place in the glory of the resurrection where we can in fact live with a Holy God and rejoice in His glorious presence. Because He lives…
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