Sunday, December 29, 2013

Holy Nights 13, Generate Light

Holy Nights
1 John 1: 1-10

William Holman Hunt
What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have beheld, and touched with our hands: the Word of God which bears all Life—the Life revealed itself, and we have seen it and so bear witness and proclaim it to you as the life which is through all cycles of time. It was with the Father and was revealed to us. What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.
           
These things we write so that your joy may be complete.

And this it the message we have heard from Him and announce to you: that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness anywhere.

If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;

But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

If we say that we have not missed the mark, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our failings, He is faithful and righteous in order that he may forgive us our failings and may cleanse us from all sinfulness.


If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

Holy Nights
December 29, 2013
Iris Sullivan
1 John 1: 1-10

Light itself is invisible. This is not so easy to perceive—after all who sees the invisible? Sitting in a darkened movie theater, we see images on a screen, thrown by a strong light source behind us. Yet the only light we see in the space between screen and source is the scant light reflected from the dust motes floating in the air. Light makes things visible, manifests them. It is itself a kind of selfless, invisible medium in which we all live.

We human beings can also experience inner light. Our conscious awareness is like light, an invisible, selfless medium in which our thoughts and feelings, our acts manifest themselves. We can also generate more light. One of the seasonal prayers speaks of the heart light of prayer.

Much of what happens in our lives, both individually and collectively, is generated in the darkness of unawareness. Yet through prayer, we can generate light. Prayer and meditation become a light source, an inner lamp. This heart light can illuminate the events of our lives; it can ignite the light of understanding in us. In this way, darkness becomes a womb in which self-awareness and awareness of our place in the greater world, grows. For prayer unites us with God, who is Light. He is the One in whom all darkness of unawareness has been transformed into Light.

Holy Night 2007, Hearts Overflowing


Holy Nights
1 John 4: 7-13

Dear brothers, let us bear love toward one another, for true love comes from God; everyone who is truly loving is born of God and knows God.

Whoever does not truly love has not known God, for God is love.

And this is what revealed God’s love among us, that God has sent into the world his only begotten Son in order that we might live through Him.

God’s love consists in this: not in the way that we have loved him, but that he has loved us, and has given his Son to save us from the banishment of sin.

My dearly beloved, if God has so loved us, so also should we bear love toward one another.

Until now no one has seen God with his eyes. When we bring love to one another, God dwells in us and his love is fulfilled in us.

By this we know that we dwell in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 

Holy Nights
December 30, 2007
1 John 4: 7-13


A poet described a three-tiered fountain this way:

        High climbs the jet and, falling, fills

up to the brim the marble rounds
that overflow in veils and frills,
into a second basin's grounds;
the second, now too rich, forsakes
its waves and on the third one spills
and equally it gives and takes
and stirs and stills.[1]

This fountain is an image of God: the life-giving, bright water of love, falling from on high, filling and spilling over into all the world; the triune God as a threefold fountain, who continuously bestows His overflowing love and forgiveness on all below; a God of love both stirring and still.

The fountain is also an image also of the human being: hearts overflowing with love received from the Source; jetting upward toward Him; hearts filling and spilling out His love toward others. Equally we take from above and give to below. For we would be those of good will, whose hearts overflow, stirred by love, and who yet walk within the stillness of peace.

“By this we know that we dwell in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.” 1 John 4:13




[1] Conrad Ferdinand Meyer, “The Roman Fountain”