EMAIL DEVOTIONAL week of Epiphany 1
A small shaft of light reflecting off a small mirror … a candle offering dim light in the corner of a dark room … the sun’s rays beating down on your back as you work in your yard … a headlight shining into your car as you drive on a back country road … the light over an operating room table as you have your knee replaced …. a beam of brightness from a flashlight hunting the corners of a closet for a lost sock ….
Light is a part of our lives in more ways than we regular notice or acknowledge. Try to imagine a world filled only with darkness. It is impossible to imagine, since without even the most modest glow of light, we would see nothing. We are exposed to probably hundreds of sources of light each and every day.
In the Church, and especially in the Epiphany season, we talk about a particular light in the world … The Light of Christ.
The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. (Matthew 4:16)
We also acknowledge this light, of course. But in a more narrowly focused way. When you hear the phrase “the light of Christ” you might picture a painting of the transfiguration, or you may think of a vision of the resurrected Lord during his forty days of life on earth after his rising from the dead, or you may even think of the Star of David shining on the baby Jesus in the manger. But we have a limited body of work that typically fits the bill “the Light of Christ.”
So let’s change that this week. Try for just a day, to take notice of every single source of light that illumines your day tomorrow or today or the next day. and in each and every occasion, think of that “light” as a gift of our one “true Light.” Make a game of it. Set yourself a goal of finding thirty sources of light … or forty … or seventy-five. They sky is the limit. (There are lights up there, too.) And at day’s end, as you start the process of extinguishing the lights around you in preparation for bed, give thanks for the presence of the “Bright Morning Star” of Epiphany that will greet you in just a few hours.
Thanks Pastor, this is a great reminder. I love the idea of counting light and as we welcome the night giving thanks for the true light of the world. Great idea!