Trinity Episcopal Church

January 11, 2009

In Genesis we have the simple/profound account of creation. How did light begin? Maybe God was in heaven and decided to make the world and said, “Hey, that sounds like a good idea” and then, “bing” a light bulb appeared above his head...and then there was light. Or maybe Genesis chapter 1 isn’t a technical, scientific account at all, but more of a wonderful poem that tells us many spiritual truths about our source, sustenance and end.

Light symbolizes salvation, and in bible talk that means to be rescued, healed, or delivered. The old stories we read have one of those definitions of salvation at its heart. Dark symbolizes chaos. I remember going to the drive-in movie as a kid and seeing a stupid horror show called The Dark about an alien (who was smart enough to built a spaceship and traveled through the universe) who came to earth so he could rip our heads off (gee, now there’s a plan). It was such a bad movie that I would have demanded my money back from the Drive-in booth, had I not sneaked in by hiding in the trunk of the car. The dark in the bible, has the qualities of disorder, fear and meaninglessness (because you don’t know where you’re going).

You can walk into the dark sanctuary, light a small candle, and the entire room is affected and (though dimly) lit. But you can’t take a little darkness and go into a lighted room and make it darker (unless you go out into deep space and harness a black hole and bring it back to earth, but that’s not very practical). The whole point of this weird analogy is that the light is greater than darkness. And that is a solid spiritual principle, that nothing can overcome you when you are in God’s hands and in His light. That is the story of creation, and of our own lives too---the salvation light was created to overcome the chaos of darkness. God, who created all things good, is the Savior of his people.

God who made the earth,
The air, the sky, the sea,
Who gave light its birth,
Cares for me.
Fr. Rick

Trinity Episcopal Church

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January 11, 2009