THE LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS

 

    We are definitely living through dark times, no doubt about it. All you have to do is go on FB first thing in the morning after coffee (don't!) to get news from various sources including Heather Cox Richardson and my new favorite (free) Jay Kuo. We have seen the video of Ross shooting Renee Nicole Good; of ICE agents tossing tear gas towards a gathering of children; of another ICE agent shooting a Minneapolis resident in the leg and many more. Awful.

 

    But here's the thing. While this is possibly the worst we have seen in our lifetimes--certainly in my lifetime--it has happened before. Brutal regimes stamp their way across history, terrorizing people, spreading fear and chaos wherever they go. All you have to do is read some history, but even better, go to the Bible.

    I recently learned that the early chapters of the Book of Isaiah were written after the return of the Israelites from Babylon, from their long and sorrowful exile.

Isaiah knows all about brutality, being taken captive, and dragged off to another imperial power. And yet--and yet? 

    In this book of the Hebrew Bible we read (Ch.2;5), "Let us walk in the light of the Lord." And later on, in Chapter 9:2: "The people walking in darkness (that's us right now) have seen a great light; on  those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned."

    These are not easy-peasy words from someone who has never known suffering; these are words forged in the fire of suffering, despair, and loss. We can take heart from them. And here's more:

    In the Gospel of John, Ch.1:5: "The light shines in the darkness and the darkness could not overcome it. Could not overcome it! Are you hearing those words?

And these are from the Apostle John (if we can trust this authorship) who had leaned on Jesus' chest the night before he was betrayed, and who had stood at the foot of the cross watching Jesus die a terrible, brutal death, screaming out his anguish.

    So, where is Annie going with this? It is my deepest, most profound belief that the forces of chaos, destruction, and brutality will not have the last word. It LOOKS as if they will have the final word, but they never have. I am not ignoring the terrible suffering of people under brutal regimes--like ours--Indigenous people being slaughtered by U.S. soldiers; People of Color under Jim Crow laws; Latinos and POC being swept up in deportation raids right now and sent to horrible prisons. I see this, even though, as a white woman of privilege, I have not experienced it.

 

    Despite what is happening now, I believe we will come out of this. I think Trump and his minions will eventually disappear (leaving great damage behind, I grant you that); I hope that our country can regain our Democratic institutions, that we will have Checks and Balances once again, and that we can re-knit our ties with our allies. Probably I will not see it in my lifetime, but I trust this will be so.

    Because people are not in charge of this world, God is. God holds us and our world in the light, birthing prophets, and bringing hope to those dwelling in the land of shadows. 

If you ask me how I know this, I can say that it has been true for me, that as a survivor of early sexual abuse, of a point-blank gunshot wound at age 7, as a young woman losing her Mom at age 27--God has never failed me, even when it felt as if the darkness was winning. It has not. It will not, not ever. And I have to say in all honesty; many may not see this light until after their "change of address," after dying when they will truly be surrounded by blazing light.

    If you want to explore more Biblical verses, go to a Bible with an index and look under "light." You will find verse after verse after verse of the prophets and Gospel writers telling us that the light comes to us all, that it wins in the end.