Writing… for a change 3

Please check out this fine reflection on “John 3:14-21 – Living in the light, living in truth”     

http://johnjzokovitch.com/2015/03/14/john-314-21-living-in-the-light-living-in-truth/

I read John’s blog posting on Saturday… I especially liked the part where he wrote, “One other aspect of this passage that strikes me is the juxtaposition of light and darkness, a favorite of John’s. The observation that “evil prefers darkness” or shadow is a truism that I think most of us readily understand. From the political to the religious to the personal, it is clear how the “lesser angels” (or greater demons) of our shared humanity thrive in smoke-filled back rooms, in secret deals, behind closed doors, in gossip—avoiding at all costs the transparency that comes with the light of day or public scrutiny. Such transparency–exposure to the sunshine–is a practice we should exact from our institutions and a standard to which we would be wise to hold ourselves in our personal conduct as well. Actions taken and decisions made under the protection of darkness and without accountability are likely to run counter to integrity. Better to live in the light.”

I couldn’t agree more. Thanks, John. Please do read his entire posting. It a good one!

Yet, how hard it is to step out of the shadows into the light. I know this in my life. I hear it from the many confessions I hear at the Church of the Gesu. It would seem that the pain of being completely transparent is insurmountable. Really, who in their right mind wants to be seen as they are… as I am… as we are? There’s so much to risk – rejection, banishment, exile, you name it.

What if… What if our starting point becomes darkness and not the ideal, light? Seems to me that God can only meet us where we are and not where we want to be, intend to be, pretend to be, or try to be.

Isaiah 42:6–7 (NRSV)    6 I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, 7 to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.

Isaiah 49:8–9 (NRSV) — 8 Thus says the Lord: In a time of favor I have answered you, on a day of salvation I have helped you; I have kept you and given you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages; 9 saying to the prisoners, “Come out,” to those who are in darkness, “Show yourselves.”

“Show yourselves!” There’s a risk. Ready for it? –roc,sj