Holy Nights
1 John 1: 1-10
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| 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
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| 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.
