One of my favorite architectural features of the Freemason Street Baptist Church is the inclusion of large arched windows, stained glass, and skylights in the design of the buildings. Many late afternoons or early evenings, walking the hallways as the last person in the building, making sure lights are off before I leave, I’ll enter an area thinking someone had left lights on to be surprised by one of those windows or a skylight. The discovery elicits an: “Oh, yes. That’s right,” and, for some reason, that free, non-electricity powered lighting of the space makes me smile.
“Sometimes a light surprises” is the way an old, old hymn begins. In the setting of the hymn, the light is the Lord “who rises with healing in His wings.” My prayer for Lent and as we come nearer to Holy Week this year, during these times that are dark with division, pain, and conflict for many, is for the healing, redemptive light of the compassionate, suffering Christ to surprise and draw us near.
Perhaps it will happen in worship, or perhaps alone in prayer or while spending time with someone you love walking amidst God’s gift of creation. Perhaps it will happen as you do the serious, thoughtful work of the Lenten season, this season of taking stock of the quality of our relationships with God and with others. Once what needs work in us is brought into the light, our hopes for renewal and a future rise, but I know you know that, right?
May our pathways toward our Jerusalems hold at least one turning where you and I are caught short by discovery (or re-discovery) of the Light. Oh, yes. That’s right. The Lord lives. So can we.
Almost ready for palm branches,
Bob Guffey
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