Kindle a Flame

Last updated on: November 29, 2010 at 10:30 am by luxpickel

Kindle a Flame 2010-11-29T10:30:03-08:00 luxpickel

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

“Kindle a flame to lighten the dark, and take all fear away.” -Iona Community

It is the first week of Advent, and I begin by lighting the first purple candle of my Advent wreath. In Advent we watch and wait for the Light of Christ, but I must start by admitting to the darkness. The darkness that touches me takes many forms. This past weekend away from home, when I dream more vividly than other times, I had persistent of dreams of the past with people and places which illuminated my brokenness and wounds. It was unsettling and uncomfortable and left me both baffled and ill at ease. I realized as I tried to listen to the dreams that in part, at least, I had expected that by this time in my life, all the darkness in me would be enlightened or resolved. Instead some of the same hurts and slights that have been part of me since my youth remain in my unconscious, calling me to pay attention to places where I still need the Light of Christ to shine its healing Light.

It didn’t take me long to think of those whom I call friends, families, loved ones, acquaintances, who also struggle in that half-light of personal pain. The process of becoming a human being is full of bumps and turns, griefs and disappointments, steps forward and slides back. Some of those leave their lasting imprint on our souls, and we limp into our lives with fear, with anger, with despair, with defensiveness. Reading the lives of the saints and the mystics tells us that the personal pain is not a modern phenomena alone. Those saints had different names and strategies for dealing with their wrestling and suffering, but almost every one whose stories we have recount physical maladies that laid their spirit low, or emotional distress that felt like chains, or spiritual gloom that hampered vision, work and love.

So as I light the candle this year, it is first in the midst of whatever darkness I carry inside me. I believe that because of the Resurrection there are no final defeats, even from the internal images and conversations that go bump in my nights. I don’t know if it is too late to have a happy childhood or not; I suspect it is. But it is not too late to live more abundantly into the freedom that Christ has given me, not only in the bye and bye, but in the here and now. The Light can shine on my insecurity and give me confidence to be and to do what I am called to be and do. The Light can direct me to practices and companions for healing the hurts that still plague me. The Light can illuminate the path to wellness of body and Spirit, and energize my being to follow it. The Light can shed clarity of the ways that I have wounded others and empower my need to ask for forgiveness. And so I light the candle in trust, in faith, in hope, that as long as I have breath, I can follow the Light.

Darkness takes many guises, and my personal darkness can seem very tiny in relation to that which inhabits structures and systems in the worlds in which we live. But I start here with me, and I ask if if the lighting of the candle in inviting me to some action in bringing illumination to my darkness: do I need to step up on behalf of myself or another in a conversation or discussion, rather than site in cowardly fear? do I need to pray with my dreams to see what else they might teach me about how God wants me to move and grow? do I need to stretch myself to move my body toward health so that my entire being can be an agent of praise and glory, fully alive, for God? is there someone to whom I need to reach out to ask for or to receive from forgiveness?

I kindle the flame; one flame does not create great light as I wait this Advent, but it is a beginning, and it is sign of hope, that there will be more Light coming. And I am watching for it!

“Kindle a flame to lighten the dark, and take all fear away.”

Uncategorized

Previous Post

November 20, 2010

Grace and Gracefulness

Next Post

December 5, 2010 Of Lions and Lambs, Apples and Oranges

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category action Advent animals attentiveness Beauty blessing body Book Review Brigid Bruce Reyes-Chow celebration change Christmas church clergy misconduct community compassion creation David Hockney discernment Easter Eastertide election Epiphany faith faithfulness feminism forgiveness friendship God of all seasons Gods world Grace gratitude Healing hesychia Hildegard of Bingen Holy Spirit Holy Week hope hospitality humility inclusiveness invitation Jesus Christ journey joy justice kindness labyrinth Lent letting go Light listening Love Love & Salt making space marriage Mary Mechtild of Magdeburg memory Mothering mourning music ordination patience paying attention peacemaking Pentecost perseverance pilgrimage praising Prayer preaching presence reconciliation remembering repentance restoration sacred conversation sainthood Scripture reflection Seasons seeing clearly serving silence soul friend spiritual direction spiritual practice St. Francis storytelling suffering time Transfiguration Sunday transformation traveling trust truth-telling Uncategorized wisdom witness women Word work worship

Select a Month January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

This chapter in Psalms declares the blessed man who meditates on God's law day and night is like a tree planted by streams. What is its number?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Psalm 23 Psalm 1 Psalm 100 Psalm 119