Hi everyone,
Ugh, “spring forward,” am I right? Just like last week, I wasn’t looking forward to getting up this morning. I had a pretty busy weekend which had me coming into today a bit tired and also prevented me from coming in yesterday to set up the sanctuary a bit early, meaning I had to wake up even earlier to make sure all our equipment was up and running. Add the very controversial time change that robs us all of an hour of sleep, and I had myself a recipe for a very grumpy morning.
But as I rolled myself out of bed and stumbled to the washroom to wake up, I remember thinking “hey, who left the lights on?” and I realised that it was actually sunlight coming into the washroom. I know, we’re an hour earlier so you’d think that it’d be darker in the morning… but it wasn’t, it was really bright surprisingly (right before the clouds came and covered it all up).
But in that moment or two (or more, I think it was still sunny as I was driving) of brightness, I really woke up fast. In that period of sun, my eyes were opened. In that time of clarity and sudden alertness, I understood how some people could actually enjoy mornings.
Maybe not the daylight saving time change, but at least the increasing hours of sunlight and the (promise of) warmer weather seems to be bringing me a bit of energy and drive, and I guess even bringing up my mood a bit (unless I seemed really grumpy, in which case I’d need to get a new grip on reality). This extra light (which is technically the same amount of light but just organised differently so we can enjoy more of it) seems to bring extra life. My eyes were opened to see more, appreciate more, and just live more.
But maybe you had a totally different experience this morning. Either case I hope it was good.
Here are the readings for next week:
1 Samuel 16:1-13
Psalm 23
Ephesians 5:8-14
John 9:1-41
Using the light to open our eyes was never a new things. Maybe tactics like changing our clocks weren’t used, but there has always been something about the light that awakens us, lifts us up, and reveals to us how life can be well lived. This light can make more clear for us God’s plans like it did for Samuel. It could show us the ways of right relationship and community like it did for the church in Ephesus. Or it could just open our eyes to the injustices and inequalities of the world like it did for those around Jesus healing the blind man.
This light shining in our lives might be blinding. It might be so surprising that it’s uncomfortable. It might even sometimes be unwanted because we’d rather sleep for a little while longer. And there’s nothing wrong with that (of course, sleep is like the nectar of champions). But let’s not forget the hope that can be found in it. Let’s not dismiss how it helps us, shapes us, and reforms us as God’s people. And let’s not lose sight of how it reaches into our lives and joins us together as a community.
As we enter into the season of spring in this hemisphere, let us embrace the light both literal and metaphorical, and allow it to reveal to us God working in our lives and in the world, that we might enter into relationship with God and each other with renewed faith and love, by the power of God’s Spirit.
Thanks be to God! Have a great week, everyone!
Photo by Chris Becker on Unsplash