Here’s my attempt at another 5 Minute March Challenge prompt- ‘Light.’ Quite opportune if you’ve been following the Church of England’s #Live Lent’s journey through John’s Gospel Let your light shine. It’s prompted me to reflect on the many and different ways we encounter light in our lives.
Our, or rather Mr S’s SAD lamp has shed light into the gloom of many a dark morning since he bought it back in the autumn. Unlike the torch that I’d use during a power cut, say, or when going out into the garden at night, this type of light is associated with dawn, daylight, the gentle easing into a new day, a fresh beginning, with all the associations of optimism and hope that might go with these.
It’s not a harsh searchlight, intent on uncovering and exposing a fugitive, leaving them with nowhere to hide.
The famous Holman Hunt picture Light of the World shows a lantern -bearing Christ waiting outside a locked door; a door whose handle is to be found on the inside only. Divine light, yes, but not one that’s going to force its way in where it’s not wanted.
For many years now I’ve found the use of light as a metaphor for the divine light, of that that we call God, of Christ within, one that speaks to me and enriches my faith. Often in the face of other images of God which have been less than life giving.
But that’s a subject for another post!
William Holman Hunt The Light of the World