O LORD, let my soul
rise up to meet You.
As the day rises to
meet the sun.
Glory to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the
beginning, is now, and will be forever, Amen.
This is
the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light,
and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in
darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the
light, as he 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 we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we
confess our sins, he Is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar,
and his word is not in us. 1 John 1:6-10
It is so easy to blame others for my darkness.
The Garden of Eden was full of that pointing of
the finger, from the very beginning.
The light is truth, seeing it for what it really
is.
And that is the Lenten pause. Confession. Choosing
to walk in the truth.
And what is truth is that each of us is a sinful,
broken, but very beloved child. And if we walk in this light, we have
fellowship with each other. But if I occupy myself with ruminating and
resenting, then I am alone in the darkness, gnashing my teeth like Gollum.
And later on John is going to tell me more truth,
that if we say we love God, but do not love my brother, His child, I am a liar
and the truth is not in me.
And right now the political stuff in our country
is chock-full of finger-pointing and resentment, but there have been a few
poignant moments of walking in the light.
And ol’ Bernie, when asked abut his religion and his faith in God said that it comes
down to “do unto others
as you would like them
to do unto you.” And if
this was too obscure and hard to understand, it is more clear when it is put
“do unto others’ kids as you would like them to do to your kids.”
Because our kids rip at our
hearts. And in Isaiah God says, “Can a woman forget her nursing
child, that she should have no compassion
on the son of her womb? Even these may
forget, yet I will not forget you.”
And we cannot have fellowship with Him if we walk
in the darkness of accusation. In Him is no darkness at all.
And a lot at Imago Dei, after we share Eucharist
with one another, we sing, “We are Marching in the Light
of God.” We sing it in English. We sing it in Swahili. We sing it in
Spanish. And then we sing it in English again. Really loudly, with Mr. Curry
crashing the piano keys.
And that is the point of it all. Because He loved
us, we love others. Love is not earned. It is because He is the I am. Love.
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