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Writer's pictureRobert John Andrews

Poems: We Extol the Light



We extoll the light, but darkness also pervades the Bible

Most often as nefarious

Throughout Bible darkness is commensurate with malevolence

Opposite of light – satanic even

Evil deeds done under the cloak of night

How, at the crucifixion, darkness fell over the face of the land

The chaos of darkness as a the prelude to creation

Walk as children of light

Once in darkness now in light

People walked in darkness have seen a great light

Either darkness or light

Darkness cannot be overcome by the light

One candle usurps darkness

And nightlights are plugged in to comfort us lest there be monsters under our bed or in the hall closet.

 

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So why then to people of faith in the Bible so much vital and deep happened at night?

 

Divine mystery shrouded in darkness

 

The nighttime encounters with divine –

in dreams,

in the promise to Abraham of descendants as numerous as stars across the galaxy,

how Exodus took place at night,

and thick darkness on the mountain enclosing Moses and ten commandments,

Paul losing his sight,

Jesus’ birth at night and the shepherd out in the fields watching their flock by night,

Jesus alone at prayer deep in the nighttime.

 

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What is it about the darkness that unnerves, disturbs, but also reveals?

How darkness can draw us closer

Turn toward the nighttime – in aloneness, in silence

The dark mystery reminding us of our dependence, our frailty, out need for other senses than sight

 

Yes, darkness showing us how growth requires sunlight but the soul also requires darkness

Tears allowed to flow unseen

And light pollutions steals an appreciation of the stars

 

The helplessness of darkness

Our nighttime realization of our lack of control

An instructive disorientation when waking up in the middle of the night -- where did I put my glasses…

Then the Solitude

The Aloneness

The Time for reflection

A hiddenness, where darkness leads toward an appreciation for light

 

~~~

 

Do we not then also need darkness?

Those dark nights of the soul that drive us to our knees and closer to God

And a darkness sharpened by the light – where the shadows become more distinct

 

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