| May 1, 2022 -- The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear?
Psalm 27:1
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Psalm 119:105 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no dark- ness at all. 1 John 1:5 There are many references in the Bible referring to God as light or as the source of light, or of walking in God’s light. Although we may at first think of God’s light in the sense of his providing the sunlight which is so necessary for providing heat and warmth and helping plants to grow, this is not the main meaning of God’s light. Rather the biblical writers had in mind that spiritual light which is equally necessary for our survival.
I very much approve of a Quaker custom of saying to a person “I am holding you in the Light”, which means the speaker is praying for someone, and wants for the person, peace and healing and well-being and whatever God wants for them. They want God’s light to shine on the person, surrounding them with God’s love and kindness. To say to someone “I am holding you in the light” is saying “I am lifting you up to God, so that His light may sur- round you, and bring you health and peace.”
Reading and reflecting on what I just wrote I am suddenly remind- ed of that passage in the Letter of James where he says: “Sup- pose a brother or a sister is with- out clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?” Similarly, if I were to say to a person “I am holding you in the Light”, but then do nothing as a follow-up to help that person out of their adversity, what good have I done?
Phillip Gulley, a Quaker writer, says: To hold someone in the Light is not a casual greeting that we toss off without thought. It is a promise to work for the betterment and well-being of another. We shouldn’t say it unless we are prepared to do it. If we say to them ‘I will hold you in the Light’ we need to be prepared to lift them up to the window and give them soup and a coat.”
|
