Lent Four - Becoming Filled with Light

This week we are invited to explore how God sees us; how well or blindly we see; and how this process of being seen, of being exposed to the light, can transform us. (Lent Four. John 9:1-41; 1 Samuel 16:1-13; Psalm 23; and Ephesians 5:8-14.)

Sentence:

“ … for once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Walk as children of light for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true.” Ephesians 5:8-9

Collect:

Gracious God,

Long ago your Son healed those who were blind

and challenged those who thought they could see.

We pray you give us humility and courage

to seek healing from all that blinds us to your love

and love of neighbours.

Help us be open to your light

that we may be made whole

and bear fruit worthy of your kingdom.

This we pray in your holy presence. Amen.

Reflection:

The readings this week focus on our capacity to see (and not see); on God’s ability to really see us; and on the need to be healed by allowing the light into those places of darkness.

You may like to read my reflection from previous years.

Seeing Differently

Yes, the gospel story is about how Jesus heals literal blindness. It is also very much challenging us about our spiritual blindness – this time the Pharisees but often it is the disciples who bear the brunt of this challenge. (Whenever we read disciple, Pharisee, Sadducee, scribe … we should consider the question how are we like the religious in this story?) But paired with the story of the selection of King David and of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians it is very much about how God sees us and of what being seen, being filled with light, means to us.

I am reminded of the quote attributed to Meister Eckhart, the 13^th century German mystic: “The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me; my eye and God’s eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love.” (My young granddaughter and I play a game in which we bring our faces closer and closer together until our foreheads and noses touch, and as we do we say how many eyes we can see – “two eyes, two eyes, two eyes …one eye!”) This beautiful non-dualistic quote from Meister Eckhart describes how the process of being a seeker of the divine is to find that we are already being met by the divine. And in that mutual seeking and finding there is a meeting, an encounter, so holy and whole, that the separateness of seeker and divine is broken down into oneness!

It also suggests that we are changed by the process of seeking and being seen. In the language of St Paul we are filled by light which changes us: “everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light.”  We can understand this as spiritual metaphor. The light – grace, forgiveness, healing – makes visible what is within and this process converts what is within to light. The light of God converts all that it touches.

We can also understand this in psychological terms – that the process of discovering what lies in the shadows within – the sinful, the forgotten, the hidden treasure – is a necessary part of healing from our wounds. As an old adage puts it ‘Sunlight is the best form of disinfectant.’ Sometimes fresh air and sunlight are what is most needed to allow something to heal. It is the core principle of much therapy that it is by remembering and talking we bring into the light what is old and half-forgotten but still poisoning us and others in our lives. And the very process of bringing something up to the surface and into the light changes it – heals us, takes some of the sting and shadowy power away, and helps us begin to change and grow into freedom.

In the context of Lent and this season of self-examination and prayer these are all useful ways of reflecting on these texts and that ultimately there is no divide between us and the oneness of God – only our awareness is sometimes absent.

Intercessions:

Holy and Immortal God,

for whom we seek and in whom we find ourselves;

We give you thanks and praise for the beauty and mystery of your creation.

We pray that we would honour and protect what is vulnerable.

We particularly pray for those parts of the world where the earth and oceans are being destroyed by greed and desperation,

where your myriad expressions of created life are becoming extinct,

where you people are thirsty, hungry, afraid …

Holy and Immortal God,

Hear our prayer.

Jesus the Christ our hope,

in who all is reconciled and held together,

We pray for all those who are torn apart by violence, competition, difference and fear,

help us to hold in our hearts all who you lived and died for.

We particularly pray for those who are caught in the torment of war and famine … all those who seek to bring aid and protection

Help us to hold in our hearts and minds the needs of others and to share generously and wisely out of our plenty

Jesus the Christ, in whom we are reconciled,

Hear our prayer.

Spirit of truth and healing,

flow through us that we might be filled with your light and bear gifts of truth and life, light and hope, among those we know and care for.

We particularly pray for all who are struggling at this time – in body, spirit or mind – and we pause to remember them in your holy and life-giving presence…

We pray for your world-wide church and peoples of all faith and no particular faith … may we seek understanding and respect all who bear your image.

We particularly pray for the Anglican Communion at this time … may our difference be expressed with respect and our decisions reflect the claim of humble love and forbearance of one another.

Spirit of truth and healing,

Hear our prayer.

Living God,

Holy and Immortal, Reconciler of all, Spirit that enlightens and heals,

We pray in the name of the Beloved Son, the Christ, who came among us and showed us we were seen and loved. Amen. 

This is my work informed by all that I have heard, read and experienced. I am indebted to the wisdom of others.