Bending Toward the Light

Bending Toward the Light

A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Randy K. Hammer – July 21, 2019

1 John 1:5-7 GNT

Excerpt from William Wordsworth’s “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey”

As many of you know, a couple of weeks ago, Mary Lou and I were able to realize a long-held dream of visiting Alaska, fulfilling a quest we began years ago with our kids of visiting all 50 United States.  Our daughter, Kristin, surprised us the first evening on the cruise ship with matching T-shirts that have a map of the United States across the front and a checkmark and the statement across the top reading, “Visit all 50 states – Check!”  The three of us had our picture taken together as soon as we stepped foot onto Alaskan soil.

And for those who may be wondering, we hope to present a slideshow program of our Alaskan trip on a Wednesday evening in September.

But on the last day of our vacation, we found ourselves in downtown Anchorage looking for things to do and see.  And we happened to come upon the Anchorage Museum.  We did not actually go into the museum proper; rather, we were more interested in the small botanical garden outside the museum.  The flower garden is U-shaped; that is, a wide band of flowers and trees wrap around a big, rectangular-shaped grassy lawn on one side of the museum.  Our daughter, her father-in-law, and I walked around the perimeter of the garden, taking photos of the Fireweed and other flowers that were in bloom.

And as I walked around that garden, one observation in particular impressed me: the Fireweed and other flowers were all leaning inward toward the open, grassy lawn.  In other words, the flowers growing under the trees were straining toward the sunlight.  And the image and phrase that came to me that morning was “bending toward the light.”

Such is a phenomenon that all of us have probably observed at one time or another.  Flowers growing at the edge of a line of trees tend to bend toward the sunlight.  Houseplants grown in windowsills naturally grow toward the light of the window.  Flowering vines climbing a stake, fence post, or a pole naturally turn their petals and leaves toward the sunlight.  Such is a natural law of nature.

Well, as I pondered such, I got to thinking about how bending toward the light is a spiritual principle as well.  Innate within the human spirit – well, most human spirits, at least – is a proclivity or inclination of bending toward the Light, spelled with a capital L.

Such has long been an image in biblical and other literature.  In several places in the Bible, God is spoken of as “light,” as in the passage read from the First Letter of John.  “God is light,” John simply and profoundly states.  In the Gospel of John, Jesus is spoken of as light.  “The light shines in the darkness,” John states, referring to Jesus (John 1:5).  “I am the Light of the world,” John has Jesus say of himself (John 8:12).  Indeed, the world “light” used in a spiritual way occurs more than two dozen times in the Gospel of John and First Letter of John, and many more times in other books of the New Testament.

Light is that which enables us to see; to find our way in the darkness.  Spiritual light as such is that which enables us to see that which is of the utmost importance in life.  Spiritual light enables us to see and find our way in a troublesome, dark world.  The early Christians felt that Jesus was such; Jesus, they felt, was Light that enables one to more clearly see the nature of God, as well as clearly see the way to abundant living and finding one’s way in the world.  And so, the Apostle John expands his thinking to say that all who have fellowship with God “live in the light” (1 John 1:7). 

“Living in the light” is also an image that has been adopted by various religious groups, as well as poets, such as William Wordsworth from whom we read:

. . . I have felt

A presence that disturbs me with the joy

Of elevated thoughts: a sense sublime

Of something far more deeply infused,

Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns. . .

One religious group in particular that has emphasized light as a spiritual metaphor is the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers.  Founder of the Quakers, George Fox, talked much about the inner light, and Quakers have been drawing on the imagery ever since.  Among the books on my shelf written by Quakers are the titles, Mind the Light: Learning to See with Spiritual Eyes, drawn from an old Quaker saying, “Mind the Light,” and Standing in the Light:  My Life as a Pantheist, in which the author states, “I decided to call the wholeness of the universe the Light.”  Another Quaker principle is “Live up to the light thou hast, and more will be granted thee.”

But there is also a famous quotation and image that comes from the New England Congregational tradition in which I have ministerial standing.  Pilgrim (and consequently, Congregational) Pastor John Robinson encouraged his Pilgrim brothers and sisters as they were preparing to leave Holland for America in saying, “I am convinced that the Lord has yet more truth and light to break forth from his Holy Word.”

And so, as noted earlier, there seems to be innate with the soul of humans, in general at least, the proclivity to bend toward the Light; to seek after God or the Sacred; to pursue spiritual enlightenment; to seek to understand the mysteries of the universe from a religious frame of reference; to try to understand the best way to live one’s life in harmony with God, the Good, and world community.  And so, we may go to church, attend Bible study, pray, meditate, read Sacred Scriptures, seek to connect with God through Nature, or serve others through volunteerism as a spiritual discipline as aspects of directing our lives toward the Light.  Bending toward the light may manifest itself in various and sundry ways.

But the piece of this theory that has been troubling me is why is it that many have a tendency to “bend toward the Light,” whereas some have no inclination whatsoever to be drawn to the Light; and in fact, live their lives just the opposite.  Why is it that some in the world prefer to “walk in darkness,” to put it in the Apostle John’s terminology?  Why is it that many, to put it in the language of the psalmist, “long for God, like a deer longs for a stream of cool water,” and others have no use for the idea of God whatsoever (Psalm 42:1)?

How is it that some are of the mind of St. Augustine, who confessed, “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee,” while much of the world experiences no such spiritual restlessness?  Why is it that many concur with the explanation offered by Christian apologetic writer, Blaise Pascal, who referred to the “God-shaped hole” in the human soul, while others appear to experience no such void?

Now, if you thought I was planning to offer a wise answer to these deep questions, I am sorry to disappoint you.  It is a great mystery to me as to why some of us seem to be draw to the Light, even from an early age, while others live their entire lives ignoring or even turning away from the Light of spirituality.

One of the Quaker beliefs I much like is that there is the “Light of God” within each person.  But that divine Light must be acknowledged, recognized, and fanned into a glowing flame.  Could it be that those who seem to have no inclination to bend toward the Light just haven’t recognized the spark of the Divine hidden within them?

Perhaps I have raised more questions than I have provided answers for this morning. And maybe that is okay.  But perhaps I have also introduced an image that you will ponder this coming week.  And if I have, then I have been successful.  It is a simple but also profound and universal image.  It is a powerful image worthy to be pondered – bending toward the Light.  Amen.