Grace St. John's United Church of Christ (UCC) - Fort Wayne

We humans tend to want to begin new things with a certain amount of solemnity. We promise to lose weight on New Year's Day. We promise to be more caring people starting on Ash Wednesday. The truth is, we don't need to wait for a "special occasion" to begin a fresh start. It can happen right now, in this very moment.

When we make mistakes, we tend to think that today is a bust, that we need to wait until tomorrow--that brand new day when we will find the courage to begin again. In truth, we can do that right now. We can eliminate any feelings of inadequacy or lack and focus on the abundance that is always ours. Figuratively, perhaps, this is our "new day."

I totally understand the desire for a fresh start in the morning. There is something about the sunrise and the first few hours of the morning that make me feel cleansed and rejuvenated, ready to move forward enthusiastically. As the day wears on, however, sometimes I lose perspective and some of that energy. If you're like me, maybe this is why we look for tomorrow for the promise of renewal.

Many religious traditions consider the light of the rising sun to be particularly divine in its origins; this is why so many people in the world face east when performing ritual. In the Orthodox East, for example, all churches have their sanctuary in the east, because it is from the east that the Light of the World breaks into our darkness. We can choose to carry this light of dawn with us, any time of day or night, drawing, drawing on its power to awaken and renew our spirits. One simple way to do this is to simply remember the Christ Light within us.

We have crossed the threshold into the weird and unnatural realm of Daylight Savings Time, and the morning light that once poured into my lap as I said morning prayer is now postponed to an hour when I am teaching and cannot bask in its radiance and inspiration. Tied as we are to the natural world, it is more challenging and requires a bit more faith in the darkness of predawn morning to affirm the Light and accept its radiance. And yet, that is what we are called to do.

Our life in Christ makes us not only recipients of "Serene Light" (as the vespers prayers of both East and West affirm) but also sources of that same light. We are called to shine the same light we find with all those still seeking it. When we do that, regardless of the time of day or night, we have already begun living in a brand new day ourselves.

God bless you,

Fr. Michel