{"id":1236,"date":"2023-12-28T17:46:44","date_gmt":"2023-12-28T17:46:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openspacesofsedona.org\/blog\/?p=1236"},"modified":"2024-02-11T03:18:14","modified_gmt":"2024-02-11T03:18:14","slug":"the-darker-the-night-the-brighter-the-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openspacesofsedona.org\/blog\/index.php\/2023\/12\/28\/the-darker-the-night-the-brighter-the-stars\/","title":{"rendered":"The Darker The Night, The Brighter The Stars"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\tAs we step into a new year, a year that has yet to unfold with all its twists and turns, we hear the words of the Prophet John, \u201cIn him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it\u201d (Jn. 1:4-5). The light of the Christ child goes before us. It is a spiritual light of eternal hope that illuminates the inexhaustible love and grace of God. A light that continues to shine even when we cannot see it. \n\tSo, as God\u2019s light-bearers, let us reflect God\u2019s light by loving and caring for each other. Let us grow in our sensitivity towards the needs of those who are suffering and in need. And with God\u2019s divine help, the Light we carry within us will shine into every nook and cranny of this world illuminating the incarnational love of Jesus Christ. \n\tRev. Dona Johnson and GracePointe of Sedona invite you to join them every Sunday at 10:00 a.m. and at The Gathering Place for worship and conversations on faith and life.\nOur society works very hard at banishing the dark with artificial light. When you think about it, we truly do live in a world without night. Modern technologies keep the dark at bay so as to not hinder our activities and productivity. Before artificial light, people\u2019s lives and livelihoods were shaped around the rising and setting of the sun. And this same cycle of light is what all plants and animals depend on. Turning to life in Sedona, I am grateful we are a dark sky community. We learn to appreciate the dark sky, and reduce the hazy glow that sits like a dome over most cities. Darkness does not and cannot overshadow stars, at best it makes the stars shine brighter.  \n<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
     One morning after worship, a young man who had been struggling with severe addictions said to me as he was leaving, \u201cThe darker the night, the brighter the stars.\u201d He was quoting Fyodor Dostoevsky, \u201cThe darker the night, the brighter the stars. The deeper the grief, the closer is God.\u201d I asked the young man to say more. He responded, \u201cIn my gut-wrenching battle to endure, I lay on the ground every night looking up at the stars. I have no home. And as I lay there alone, I grab hold of God\u2019s love for me. I am loved despite myself and suddenly the light I could not see shines through.\u201d And so it is in our own lives. In our discouragement, our woundedness and our relapses, when things seem bleak and want to overtake us and fill us with doubt and darkness, God\u2019s promises of redemption, his love for us grows brighter, faith grabs hold of God\u2019s mercy and we are made new every morning. \n\tWhen darkness does fall on us, we should not fear it, says Barbara Brown Taylor, a Episcopal pastor and professor. In her Time Magazine article In Praise of Darkness she writes, \u201cI have learned things in the dark that I could never have learned in the light, things that have saved my life over and over again, so that there is really only one logical conclusion. I need darkness as much as I need light.\u201d Sometimes in life, we experience darkness: the loss of a job, a marriage falls apart, your child acts out in a painful way, you pray for something that never happens or you're plagued with doubts about God. If we as a human family continue to fill our souls with a false sense of self and security in artificial things such as hyper-commercialism and materialism, how will the light that Christ brings us reveal our sin and weaknesses and show us the way out, the way to redemption. But isn\u2019t it also true that when we enter dark times, we learn courage, we learn new things about the world and see people in new ways and we become more sensitive to God\u2019s presence and sovereignty in our circumstances. \nwww.gracepointeofsedona.org<\/a>\n<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n