Journey to the Cross

Pause

I want to walk as a child of the light.
I want to follow Jesus.
God set the stars to give light to the world.
The star of my life is Jesus.

In [Christ] there is no darkness at all.
The night and the day are both alike.
The Lamb is the light of the city of God.
Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.

Kathleen Thomerson in “I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light” (1970)

Listen

The man’s neighbors and those who used to see him when he was a beggar said, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?”

Some said, “It is,” and others said, “No, it’s someone who looks like him.”

But the man said, “Yes, it’s me!”

So they asked him, “How are you now able to see?”

He answered, “The man they call Jesus made mud, smeared it on my eyes, and said, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and then I could see.”

They asked, “Where is this man?”

He replied, “I don’t know.”

Then they led the man who had been born blind to the Pharisees. Now Jesus made the mud and smeared it on the man’s eyes on a Sabbath day. So Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see.

The man told them, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and now I see.”

John 9:8-15

Think

Applying for college scholarships, I wrote an essay about wanting to be the Surgeon General of the United States. Back then I wanted to be a doctor. Having lost a loved one to cancer, I wanted power to put warning labels on products, and the Surgeon General sounded like the most boss surgeon around. The truth is that I didn’t have a clue what a Surgeon General does. It comes as no surprise that I did not win the scholarship.

I’d forgotten the advice: write what you know. That happens sometimes in our faith lives. We feel we must have answers to huge concepts of God’s mysteries. When we don’t know, we may flounder or stay silent.

But God doesn’t expect us to have it all figured out to tell God’s story. The man who gained his sight doesn’t weave a big tale. He just tells the simple story of the bit of truth he knows: I went and washed, and then I could see. What bit of God’s story might you tell today?

Shelli Latham

Pray

Light of the World, show me a bit of your story, and give me the words to tell it.

Set me free of my fears of not getting it right so that I won’t keep your love to myself.

Amen.

Go

May God grant you the perfect darkness
that you may find rest that soothes your creaking soul.

May God grant you the perfect light
that you may see clearly the truths of your life
and the path the Spirit lays before you.

May you cup that light in your very being
firmly enough that it warms your aching bones should you ever feel alone,
gently enough that it seeps between your fingers and out to a yearning world.