let there be...epiphany!

i still have the echoes of the immanuel children’s christmas program in my ears and the confirmation kids’ rap, “you were once in darkness, but now you are the light in the world.  live as children of light, and find out what pleases the lord.”  (from ephesians) luckily, this is perfect for the first sunday this month!

epiphany is one of my joys each year in large part because i love the image of god as light.  in high school our synod youth gathering theme one year was “glow” and was based on john 1:5 “a light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not/will not/cannot overcome it.”  wherever there is light, the darkness crawls away and so if i can hold god’s spark inside of me, there will always be light to scatter the darkness.

i also really like the concept of god as light because of the science of it.  when it comes to light, the bright “lightness” of light happens because all of the colors visible to us on the light spectrum combine.  it’s similar to when we talk about humans being made in the image of god, imago dei.  it’s not that i, personally, am what god looks like, but instead, together, in our collective diversity as all of humanity, we are made in the image of god.  god as light is the gathering together of all of the diversity of the color spectrum.  when we can come together in our diversity—the whole rainbow of creation, of the human race—then we have the chance to live into god’s light and to manifest that light in this world.