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Advent devotions 2008

DEC. 8 - TESTIFY TO THE LIGHT
By Rachel Lapp, assistant professor of communication

THIS WEEK’S THEME: Testify to the light

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DEVOTIONAL:
Light: it made possible the beginning of our existence, illuminates our everyday lives, and, in many forms and across faith traditions, is evoked in metaphor and often manifest in powerful physical signs of a divine presence on earth. Light has also been the subject of impassioned study by physicists and chemists who have provided us with a greater understanding of the elegant, infinitely complex construction of God's creation.

In the 20th century, scientists explored the qualities of electromagnetic radiation, discovering and confirming it’s dual nature: that light acts as both wave and particle. This concept has been tested again and again, because waves and particles are essentially opposites; a wave is a field of energy, while a particle is a discrete unit that takes up only a tiny amount of space. How light can be both remains a mystery.

Lubavitcher Rebbe, a Hasidic rabbi leader, proposed that light is the best metaphor we can conceive for understanding the process of Divine creation -- that the existence of each of us can be considered as 'light' emitted by God. Writing about the Jewish celebration of Chanukah, Rabbi Simon Jacobson, stated, "By contemplating the paradox of light -- that it is clearly real and yet appears to have no substance or shape -- we can approach an even greater paradox: the unity of our physical universe with the Divine 'universe.'"

Now in the 21st century, we benefit from the discoveries of scientists who have developed many types of light sources to illuminate our work, our homes, our reading and home tasks, our tables. Our world is transformed by our ability to use light, because our actions, whether affected physically or metaphorically by our ability to switch on the power of light, also gives us the opportunity to transform our surroundings and impact our future. We see by light, we light up the darkness in order to see, and we think of light as a source of energy and potential. Such is a description of Christ -- Redeemer, Illuminator, Light of the World.

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PRAYER:
In this Advent season, we light our candles to shine the love of Christ into the darkness, and to reveal the honest yearning in our eyes to see the face of God. Fill us up as vessels of the Divine light, ready to shine it for those around us, in recognition of ourselves as bearers of light.

Posted at 21:31 #