Create a peaceful space to pause, and allow yourself to feel God’s presence alongside you, as near to you as your own breath. In following the reflection below, as a church we will draw closer to God and to one another as we grow in faith and deepen our sense of belonging to God.
John 8:12 ‘Jesus the Light of the World’
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying,
‘I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness
but will have the light of life.’
‘The Light of the World’
by William Holman Hunt
(1827-1910)
My favourite chair in our living room is next to a window: it’s an excellent place to sit and read, or perhaps do some sewing because the light is very good. But for close work I have to remember to turn the chair around a bit, otherwise I get in my own light, my body casts a shadow across what I’m doing and I no longer see clearly.
Jesus tells us he is the Light of the World and it’s in his light that we live our lives. But sometimes, without realizing it, we turn our back on him. Maybe we’re preoccupied with problems around us, particularly at the moment in this coronavirus time when there’s so much to think about; or perhaps we’re too busy doing things we’ve decided are a priority. We might even mistakenly want to go our own way. Whatever the reason, as soon as we do turn our backs on Jesus, we shut out his light from our lives. We are walking forward into the darkness of our own shadows.
The great joy for us as Christians is that no matter how far we stray in the darkness and half-light of our own sinful, willful natures, the light of Christ never fails, all we have to do to be bathed in it once again is simply to turn around. There is never a moment when God stops waiting for us to come back to him.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, sadly there is still darkness in our world.
Many people today feel the pressures crowding in and getting them down, especially with the problems of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Even though we have made a mess of things personally and collectively you remain faithful.
We rejoice that your Son came not to a perfect world, but to a broken world, our world. To bring light to the darkness, our darkness.
We pray for that world, our world in need of love and grace, forgiveness and new life, hope, peace and fellowship, in need of renewal, in need of you.
We pray that we may be aware of you alongside us and that we may see Jesus, the Light of the World, the one who came (and who comes) to free us of sin, to give us life and health and peace.
We have been set free. Help us to use our freedom to share in bringing in the kingdom.
We have something great to celebrate, something to shout about – for even in our trouble and pain, even in our loss, we know that Jesus, the Light of the World, is with us. Amen.
Reflection and Prayer © 2020 Ann Caffyn.
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All material within this order of worship is reproduced by permission under CCL 1226356