The Light Dawns; John 1

Happy New Year! A bright and sunny one where I'm at, cold but not as frigid as some parts of the country. Isn't it amazing how much easier it is to stand the cold when the sun is out. Perhaps it is a good metaphor for life. When you live in the light, you can withstand all the darkness that comes with sadness and tragedy.

John 1 lets us glimpse the beginning of life; whether of creation or of our own enlightenment. We begin with awareness (says Wm. Arnold in Feasting on the Word) of that which comes from beyond us. Once we are aware it can enter and offer us life. Like the dawn that begins with only the slightest awareness that there is something out there in the dark, we too begin by moving our center outside ourselves and realizing there is MORE.

The rising of the light begins with a hint of pink which often spills into a golden ruby hew. It's like a jewel rising from the ground some mornings and the Light of the World comes with the same richness into our lives, offering more than we could 'ask or imagine' (Eph. 3).

Then the light comes. It floods the earth with color and allows all the richness already present, to be seen. Trees comes alive in any season and the colors, even of winter, become visible as we become attuned to life around us. Christ's light invites us to enter the world fully, taking in all seasons of life with confidence that his light is enough to guide our path.

Then, if you look away from the sunrise you can often see a reflection of gold and pink in the opposite sky as if the earth was answering the gift of sunrise with a mirror of color. It shows up in the sky that will later hold the sunset, a promise that even when the dark returns, the light will be present in God's creation to carry us through.

We carry Christ's light in us and offer the gift of enlightenment to the world. Not in the gnostic sense of pure knowledge, but in the heart and soul sense that when we take in the light, it shines through us and offers life to the world. Ah, the sunrise, on this first day of the year is a beautiful moment of promise for everyone.