Day 7- Light in the Wilderness

"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid." (Psalm 27:1,2)

As I study this passage for Sunday, I am reminded of our trips to Westminster Woods and the moment in almost every trip when we realize that even though we know our way pretty well, that we really should have brought our flashlights with us. It gets really dark in the woods, and there are so many things to stumble over in the dark. Inevitably the person with the flashlight becomes the person you want to draw close to as we walk through the woods together.

So it is in our faith journey. There are certainly times when we think we have it all figured out and we are ok walking along on familiar paths without a light. But then we stumble. There is a rock or a branch that wasn't there before. Something blocks our way in the journey of life and we start to be afraid. We lose our job, we struggle in a relationship or we fail just when we think we are invincible. The light doesn't get rid of the obstacles but helps us to see and deal with the hurdles we encounter. The Psalmist is making the same point in the Twenty-seventh Psalm. "Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war rise up against me, yet I will be confident." The light that the Psalmist is talking about is the light of Christ shining in the darkness. We often evoke this light imagery in Advent but I think it is equally important in our Lenten journey through the wilderness. We need the light of Christ so that we will not fear as we journey in the wilderness.

This year Joan and I presented our VBS curriculum "Renaissance Faire: A Rebirth in Faith" at the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators Cofnerence in Nashville. People loved the pictures and the stories we shared and it was a joy to share what we had learned with the greater church. We were also nurtured by the conference and especially the evening that Amy Grant came and sang and chatted with us. Her song "Thy Word" is a regular part of our worship services so it was wonderful to hear her telling stories of her life and family and then to share this song that speaks a word of hope and light into our lives. "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path...When I feel afraid, think I've lost my way, still you're there right beside me. And nothing I will fear as long as you are near, please be near me to the end." That is our prayer for our wilderness journey. As the church, let us reflect the light of Christ. Let us be that body people draw close to on our wilderness journey.