"One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light..."

Walking in the neighborhood the other day, Estee and I visited with a neighbor couple. We listened to them speak of how much they are going to miss being at church for Easter. Knowing that we are pastors, our neighbors asked if we were going to have worship this weekend. We said that we would have worship service on Thursday, Friday and Sunday.

My neighbor asked, “Why are you having worship on Thursday?”

Estee, being the more eloquent one of the two of us, said that Thursday is Maundy Thursday and that we remember the new commandment of Jesus at the foot washing to love one another.

The other neighbor said, “We plan to attend worship at our church on Saturday.”

I asked, “what do you all do for worship on Saturday?”

Our neighbors began to share how their church is so large that they have Easter services on Friday, Saturday and Sunday the weekend of Easter. And it was at that moment I realized that the church our neighbors participate in does not celebrate Maundy Thursday or Good Friday. They only celebrate Easter this weekend.

I get it. Easter is fun and delightful. It is full of light and hope. It is perhaps the story and season we need right now more than anything. I am very pro Easter. Listening to my neighbors, I was reminded of something Carl Jung wrote: “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The later procedure, however, is disagreeable and therefore not popular.”

Compared to Easter, a day of light, Good Friday is not popular. We are drawn to light and hope and resurrection. This is great. Again, I am pro Easter. However, as appealing it is to rush to Easter Sunday, perhaps it is worth reflecting on Jung’s words here. Christ did not transform the world by showing us just where the light is. Christ transformed the world by bringing to our awareness just how much darkness there is. If there is no awareness of the darkness, then we will not join with God in Christ to repair the world.

Christ feed people not because he saw there was an abundance of food the world could produce, but because he saw the darkness of injustice around him. He healed people not because he only wanted us to have life abundant, but to bring to our mind that there there is injustice in the healthcare systems that favor the rich and ignore the poor. Christ did not forgive the sin of the world purely out of the mercy of grace but in the hopes that we all would see that we too are in need of forgiveness and to be gentle with one another.

This Good Friday is Good because it brings darkness to our consciousness. It forces us to look into the darkness of the world, not to turn away but to look and discover that the darkness is good because it brings “enlightenment” in ways we otherwise would have never seen if we only chased the light.

Preacher Barbara Brown Taylor said that she has spent her whole life “with seekers of enlightenment” and that she n”ever once heard anyone speak in hushed tones about the value of endarkenment.”

It is popular to celebrate Easter this whole weekend. We all are pro Easter.

But do not forget that we could only see the Light of Sunday because of Friday’s darkness.

The Church and The Moon

Photo by Jordan Steranka on Unsplash

While reading a book for class,  I was reminded that the Christian calendar is based on the moon, and not the sun.

Who cares?

The moon is not a light source, but the object that reflects the light. It goes in phases, and is sometimes bright and other times seemingly absent. It is easily masked by clouds and yet does not hurt your eyes to look directly at it. It shines in the darkness even if only a sliver.

The Church is not the Light, but only attempts to reflect it. At her best, it shines in the darkness and at her worst it is absent from view. The Church is not what gives life but can help sustain life in the dark times. The Church pulls people together with intimacy and peace not unlike the moonlight summer nights of our lives.

This may contribute to our discomfort with Church. It is inconsistent and does not do all that we would want it to do. It does not fit neatly into our evenly measured lives and is more mysterious than we are comfortable with. It requires work to see and is easily over shadowed, but the Church and the Moon are tied together in a way that both are dependent on the Light.

A Church Full of Lucifers and Crucifers

At the church I serve, each Sunday during worship young people carry lit candles down the sanctuary aisles. They carry their candles and use them to light candles on the communion table. We commonly call these young people "acolytes". Perhaps that is a better name than the earlier name of this role -- lucifers. 

Lucifer means "light bearer," which is exactly what we are called to be in the world. Christians are not the Light, but only bearers of the Light. Of course the problem with calling Christians lucifers is that through non-Biblical literature, that title has been given as a proper name to the Devil. While we may be called to be lucifers, we don't use that name. 

Another title that Christians have is one of "crucifer". If we look to the procession in the Church, there are those who carry in the light and there is the one who carries in the cross. The one who carries the cross is called the "crucifer". Oddly enough this title has not been appropriated to the Devil or anything else. Frankly, the language of crucifer is lost in the Protestant tradition and very limited in the Catholic tradition. 

It is a shame that we as Christians are hesitant to take on the titles of lucifer and crucifer, because we are called to carry the light and to carry the cross into the world.

A Need for More Yellow Lights

I can recall the times when I hit all red lights and when I hit all green lights, however I don't recall the times when I hit a slew of yellow lights. I wonder why I don't remember?

It could be that we live in a world that prefers red light/green lights. We are either going or stopping.

For instance, the Church is a place where red/green light living is in full swing. There are ministries where we give the green light and we are blowing and going! There are other times when too much is happening too quickly and there is a collective red light that stops the body. Some people are annoyed with green lights because we move to fast. Others find red lights frustrating since we are not going anywhere. So the push and pull between the red lighters and the green lighters continues on. 

I would submit that what the Church needs is not more red or green but more yellow lights. Often times we think that yellow lights mean to "slow down" or "pause". But that is not accurate:

Yellow lights are the place that give us greater ability to practice discernment. 

Living a life of red and green lights means that you don't to discern what to do. We see it most easily in red light living, you have not choice but to stop. However, green light living has just as little freedom: you have no choice but to go. Yellow lights however require a good bit of discernment - should I accelerate? Slow down? How far am I to the next car? What about behind me? Should I change lanes? Thus yellow light living is the most liberating way to live but for most of us that amount of freedom is too much. It is easier to stop or go, discerning is difficult. 

While red lights give us space to stopping, and green lights give us space to move, yellow lights give us space to discern. More than stopping or moving, discernment is what is needed most today. 

In a red and green light world, the humble yellow light is often forgotten.