Thanks everyone who participated in the online election eve prayer and communion for November 3. Even if you didn’t participate live, here is a litany from the meeting you can use to pray along with us on your own:
“Our prayer is inspired by the words in the book of John the gospel writer in the New Testament portion of the Bible, John Chapter 1, and the refrain for this prayer comes from John 1 verse 5: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” If you want to participate in this prayer, then when I lift my hand, repeat the refrain together, “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it”
“1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
This was the very first beginning, when you Christ, our Word, when you were with God, and as we Americans are on the cusp of another new beginning in the United States, the beginning of a new term for our elected leaders. In this uncertain hour, we take comfort that you Christ, the Word, are with God now, and are God, you speak out and you are spoken out over the world and make it new with your every syllable, newer than any other pronouncement we could ever hear over the airways tomorrow.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
“2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all humankind.”
Our very beings are wound and sent into motion by your utterances of life that spins planets and moons in their orbits, that sends waters and air into currents, and seeds to burst from the pods, that bends parents to pick up their children, and makes voices to find ears. We have made very little in comparison, we cannot claim to have called forth even one stem of grass from the earth or one hair from our own bodies on our own. Lovingly, you have made an entire universe and every plant and every person, with awe and reverence we look upon your work in all its diversity, the holy expanse of the sky, the holy wonder of land and oceans, the holy bodies of our neighbors. An honor to touch your land with feet. In your unbounded unfathomable kingdom there is no lesser land to walk on, and no lesser people to embrace. The persistent sins of colonialism and racism are exposed for their cheapening lies when your light illuminates your glorious creation.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
“5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Though the darkness seems thick in our time, your light, oh Christ has shined in dark times and will shine. Even in this country you have shined out in dark times. When children were in cages, when the wealthy were amassing their fortunes, when women were demeaned, with heroes and heroines passed away, with persistent war and threats of more, with police violence and black bodies on the ground, massive fires, melting glaciers, poisoned waters, poison words, pandemic… the darkness seems to envelop, and with dread we look into an unknown future and with small hopes we pray to feel you by our side, for your relief. From the void of nothingness you created light in the beginning, from a darkness that never knew light, that had no concept of light, when light was first dreamed up and released by your unmatched creativity. We admit our dread does not know what you are capable of doing in our present or in our future. Unleash your creativity in our dark corners of our hearts and in the dark places of our world.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it.
“6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.”
Christ, your cousin John, showed us how we could be a vessel. Not with prideful words to build ourselves up to pretend to be better than our competitors, nor with reviling words that mock and tear down, but with the announcement of your presence and being coming through to our thoughts and words and prayers and actions. We are not the light of the world, neither is the American nation the light of the world, that title belongs to you alone, who bore it humbly and who made John to bear witness humbly and boldly. With bold humility we proclaim:
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it.
“The true light that gives light to everyone,” without favoritism, without special interest, without withholding necessary equipment. Without blame. Without targeting. Without white privilege. Without limiting resources. Without setting bail. The world in vain holds on to it’s withholding and constraints in the face of such overwhelming generosity. Your true light gives light to everyone. You give your very self to everyone; and all your life and all your gifts.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it.
“10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”
Like those who made this country through their slave labor, and whose stolen land makes up the ground we walk on. Like those whose migrant labor and whose unpaid labor sustains this country, you also were pushed to the side, unrecognized. Unrecognized, but you made it all, and your mark is there on it and on us, if we but take a moment of recognition to see it.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it.
“12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
Not of natural descent like a monarchy, not of human decision like a democracy, not of husband;s will like a patriarchy, but born of God like into a family. We are your family, you have brought us all into a relationship with you and we are at home in your world and among all of your people. You make us safe, you make our home, you bring it about.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it.
“14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
We have seen your glory in our cells. We have seen it in our public meetings. We have seen it in our compassion teams. We have seen it in our giving. We have seen it in our homes. We have seen in our streets. We have seen it with our neighbors. We have seen it in our land. We have seen your glory and will see your glory, today, tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, and forever.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it.