In church, we sing about the light, the glory, the beauty, the majesty.  And we feel lifted up.    

We pray for blessings and strength, peace and happiness. And we feel hope.

And when those prayers are answered we are grateful.

Whether we intend it or not, our hearts build up walls within and without.  We develop judgments and categories.  Light =  good.  Darkness = bad.  Strength = good.  Weakness = bad.  Peace = good.  Chaos = bad. 

We forget that light and darkness are bound up together.  Death and life.  Heaven and hell. 

From the darkness under the soil, a seed sprouts and pushes into the light. 

From the darkness of the womb and through pain and blood, life emerges.

The chaos and terror of an electrical storm sets a forest ablaze and some seeds are released from their dormancy to life.

The universe is full of light and beauty. 

And darkness and chaos.

And it’s all wonderful, and awful at the same time.

But we proceed as though only some parts of us, or the earth, or of others are worthy;   the good parts, the strong parts, the useful parts, the beautiful parts.

In doing this we create a separation within ourselves, within the creation and within our relationships with others. 

This separation needs to be reconciled.  We need a reconciling embrace with ourselves, with the nations, and with all species of the earth, an embrace that opens wide to the darkness in ourselves, others and the earth. 

A welcome for the unclean, and even for death in order to learn it is at the heart of life.

Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

……….

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me

and the light become night around me,”

even the darkness will not be dark to you;

the night will shine like the day,

for darkness is as light to you.

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