Morning Prayer Friday, 20 November 2020
Good morning, my Cornerstone family, friends and Friday-morning meaning-seekers!
Throw open your curtains and take a look at today.
Have you noticed the difference in November light?
It has no deep glow from autumn leaves, now mostly gone.
The sun, so low in the sky, works hard to pierce the clouds.
It’s as if the light has become pale and thin, leaving the hedges and corners in deep shade.
Even the sky has exchanged its rich blue for a thin wash of milky-bluey-grey.
We shall have to provide illumination this morning through our reflection and prayer.
We shall have to master the lingering darkness.
As it says in the beginning of John:
In him was life and that life was the light of mankind. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has never mastered it!
Thank you, God of all light, for this morning when autumn is moving towards winter.
Thank you for the stark beauty of leafless trees ornamented with berries bright.
Thank you for my morning view of your changing world.
Thank you for this different light.
Amen
This will soon be a time for candles, if they are not already set in place.
The puddle of light from a candle is warm and inviting but small.
Even electric candles don’t give much light.
In the approaching brief days of winter,
candles will proliferate on tables and window sills, at dusk and at midnight.
It’s when the word ‘cosy’ comes into its own.
A handful of tea lights on an old plate becomes brighter through reflection.
A single candle may make for romance, but you will need more to see well enough to enjoy that meal.
In mediaeval churches, the gold and silver threads in vestments and altar cloths
created the shimmer of heaven in the light of many candles.
Before electricity, candles expanded their light through mirrored sconces,
varnished surfaces and lots of gloss paint.
Many candles together make a greater light.
St Paul tells the Ephesians:
Though you once were darkness, now as Christians, you are light. Prove yourselves at home in the light; for where light is, there is a harvest of goodness, righteousness and truth…Everything is shown up by being exposed to the light and whatever is exposed to the light, itself becomes light.
God of all light, we bring to you the people we can’t welcome into the Cornerstone light for a while:
people without a home, creeping out of dark tents and shady places;
people in need of a place where they can pray and remember with the help of candlelight;
people afraid in life because they can’t see light;
people alone, left out of the comfort of community, who can’t find a light.
Help us discover how to be their light in this time of lockdown.
Keep them all in your care until we can smile them inside again.
Amen
Light is very powerful – a remedy against many ills.
People who find dark days depressing can lift their mood with light.
The strength of our bones depends on sunlight.
Together, as people of faith, we become the light that drives away darkness.
We become goodness, we become truth.
Let us illuminate today as people who are at home in the light.
In the words of Martin Luther King Jr: ‘Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.’
Let us go out with joy in the blessing of the God of love and of light.
Amen
Cheryl Montgomery
