Holding on to Your Light

A quick reflection on a historic January day...

The saying is true: where knowledge is a burden, ignorance is bliss.

There is an anxiety that accompanies awareness.

I would love nothing more than to live in the sort of joyful state that insisted that God’s blessing meant smooth sailing in the here and now. Alas, that is not my portion. Instead, I travel through a world that has been rendered hostile by its inhabitants.

I am writing these words on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a day that honors a man who once tried to warn his countrymen of the three evils of racism, militarism, and poverty. This year, the holiday falls on Inauguration Day. The irony of swearing in a billionaire (who was largely ushered back to office by other billionaires) with a history of xenophobic and racist words and deeds who has espoused a desire to beef up the world’s most robust military as the 47th President of the United States on such a day is not lost on me.

But this is who we are. We are a nation that has grown used to weaving wonderful myths about our values, even as we march in step to the beat of a much different drum. We are a monument to “civilized” violence, inequality with an overcoat of “meritocracy,” and the implicit understanding that assimilation is the best form of citizenship. This is not an encouraging truth. Yet it is still a truth. A heavy truth.

The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. appears to agree with John’s account of the Gospel with regard to how darkness and light relate to each other. Whereas John asserts that darkness doesn’t extinguish the light, King declares that Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that.

Consider this an invitation to reconnect with your Light.

There is one thing I am certain these next four years will bring: disorientation.

You will be lied to.

You will be gaslit.

Ceaselessly.

Sooner or later, you will find it harder to hold on to hope.

But there is one thing you must understand, beloved:

You may be the answer to a prayer.

You may carry the light that chases the darkness away for someone.

We honor Dr. King with a federal holiday now, but it took him being assassinated at the nadir of his reputation. In a similar fashion, many of us claim to follow a Jesus who was brutally executed by the same expressions of power we just sent back to the oval office.

But death dealing powers never have the final word.

Because darkness cannot extinguish light. Light drives darkness out.

If you see darkness encroaching, know that you are not imagining anything. But know that darkness can only exist where light refuses to chase it from.

If you have been blessed with light to carry, recognize that blessing as a responsibility. The world needs you to help it see itself as she truly is. The world needs you to help her become who she can be.

The world needs you.

I like playing with words. So that’s what I do. Whether it be with tweets, videos, essays, sermonic presentations, Bible studies, podcasts, or speaking engagements of other sorts, I’m always trying to figure out how to provoke an image in a seeker with some combination of words.

If you’ve enjoyed any of the words I have to offer, check out my book Theologizin’ Bigger: Homilies on Living Freely and Loving Wholly wherever books are sold!