Service of Light

1. There are two reasons for this service. Next week at this time, we will be having our Easter Vigil, it is a service so rich in meaning and spiritual food that we miss so much of it. So this is to savour some of that richness. Again when we have a "rehearsal" we look out for what is meaningful and significant.

Secondly: Walking in the Light is not a once in a life time experience. It is not like Baptism and Confirmation: - however we have constantly and continually to get back into the light since we fall into the trap of walking in the darkness.

Story of the Man: who was undergoing treatment for a whole set of psychological difficulties. Pornography, gambling, etc. He had the treatment and he was getting better in the controlled situation. He began to feel free of the things that were trapping him.
Unfortunately, his supervisor had to be away for a weekend while he was still half way through the treatment. When he came back he found the man very discouraged and back to his old ways. When he inquired what happened, his patient said, " I came out into the light, but I found the light too bright."
Hopefully that will not be our case where we prefer darkness to light.

So we go back in time when the Israelites came out of Egypt. The Lord led them as a Pillar of Cloud through the day and a Pillar of Fire through the night. Let us pray.

Opening Poem: Iroquois prayer
We wait in darkness!
Come, all ye who listen,
Help in our night journey:
Now no sun is shining;
Now no star is glowing;
Come show us the pathway:
The night is not friendly;
The moon has forgotten us,
We wait in the darkness!


2. Procession with Candle representing Jesus Christ. And now one of our prayer community will bring in the Candle representing Christ our Light. We stand to greet Christ represented in the Candle. The Bearer of the Light will make three stops and we will sing: "Praise to you King of Eternal Glory."

Arrival of the candle should be followed by a period of silence.

A reading from the BOOK OF REVELATION (Revelation 21:3-5a, 6b-7)
And the one who was seated on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children."


3. (Seated) Candles in the Early church...

a Lighting Candles was something that was started in the Second and third Century. Even though we have reference to it as early as the Acts of the Apostles Ch 20:vs 7-8. This had come from the Jewish Synagogue practices and hence it was quite common.

b However there was a reluctance to use Lights. The reason being that it was an Act of Piety towards the Emperors who were called Gods and who often proclaimed themselves as gods.
Many of the Saints said that it was an insult to light Candles to the Author and Giver of Light itself.

c However, Lights were being used in three Places: First in Churches. Second in Sanctuaries ( remembering the Martyrs). Third in Cemeteries.
In the East,
even when there was daylight
at the Reading of the Gospel
Candles were used as a Token of Joy.

d It was common to Light Candles in remembrance of those who gave up their lives for the sake of the Faith.

e It was forbidden to light candles in the Day in the cemeteries because they did not want to disturb the spirit of the Saints.

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Having said this as a part of our History let us remember three things for which we have Candles tonight. First, in our days we have switches by which we turn on lights and matches to light candles. They did not have those conveniences then... and hence they would have a perpetual light - not for the Blessed Sacrament reserved for the sick. Tonight we light them because of a Renewal of our baptismal promises. Made by our parents.... tonight we are going to make them for ourselves. Finally the many lights when they are not needed, when they are superfluous is a sign that we are honouring SOMEONE. You heard that phrase, "oh you shouldn't have done.."


4. The Gospel of John's central theme is Jesus being the light. When something graceful or redemptive is about to happen it is in the early morning or at daybreak. Something of the glory of God is revealed in the light and by the Light. It is similar to a theatre stage and when Jesus comes into view, then all the lights come up. With this detail we are alerted that something new of God is about to be dramatized.

Sorrow is a grace which leads us to the Light. This Light is not intended to emphasize the sin, but highlight the love who is the Light. (Fr. Larry Gillick S.J.)

Eph 5: 8-10 There was a time when you were darkness, but now you are light in Christ. Live as children of the light.

In this world of consumerism, we have not taken care to preserve the earth's resources;
KYRIE ELEISON
In our country there is abundance, we have not chosen a simple lifestyle and the decision to share
KYRIE ELEISON
In our life of external activism, we have not sought a balance of prayerful dependence on you, O Lord:
KYRIE ELEISON
in our world of selfish individualism, we have not been open to the community; KYRIE ELEISON
in our world of injustice, we have not acknowledged our guilt, nor made atonement;
KYRIE ELEISON
in our world of scared with the enormity of the problems, we have not been a beacon of hope and support for the weak.
KYRIE ELEISON


5. Entrusting Ourselves into the Hands of Jesus Teilhard De Chardin S.J.

To the hands that broke and gave life to the bread,
That blessed and caressed, that were pierced:
To the kindly and mighty hands that reach down
To the very marrow of the soul that moulds and creates
To the hands through which so great a love is transmitted
It is to these that it is good to surrender our souls
Above all when we suffer or are afraid,
And in doing so there is a great happiness and great merit.


6. The Story of Creation: Reading from the Book of Genesis.

You will hear the Story of Creation next week. And we sometimes will fall asleep especially if we do not have readers who do not make the Story come alive. What we have to realise that the Holy Spirit... the Spirit of the Lord hovered over the waters... is the same spirit hovering over us today. The Creation story continues today as we heard in the Book of Revelation: Behold I create all things new. Repeated in Isaiah 43.

THE CALL OF ABRAHAM FROM UR OF CALDEES.
We can all relate to it in some way - if we are not Native Indian... our parents or grandparents came from.... Some of us ourselves migrated from India and Malaysia, from the Caribbean and Europe. You had dreams and you came and then you began to doubt. Why do I have to be in this cold weather, why this hot weather. I am going home: there I have relatives and friends and pick up the phone and call my buddies.
Abraham and Sarah probably had the same problems
Remember Abraham and his nephew Lot.

ISAAC: WE HAVE THE FIRE, WE HAVE THE WOOD, THE SACRIFICE?
God will provide... We are called to the same faith now: God will provide and I look into the Candle... the same Pillar of Flame that would later lead the Israelites out.
Lost my job, sickness, disability, Car breaks down, Who is the Abraham to tell you God will provide?


JACOB WRESTLES WITH THE ANGEL
all through the night: the theme of darkness again
Where have you battled as you go through the Day One, Day two, Day three of your Creation story?
away from the Church
a broken marriage
a chronic sin
drugs, alcohol, an affair.
Could you also say with God: And God said, "It was good."

We will sit a few minutes in Silence as we reflect on how God has touched you in the last four or five months... when you have been re-created in the Spirit.


7. Testimony, witness of those who have experienced the Light.


8. Reading from the Gospel according to John

Meditation

The journeys of our lives are never fully charted. There come to each of us deserts to cross -- barren stretches -- where the green edge on the horizon may be our destination, or an oasis on our way, or a mirage that beckons only to leave us lost.

When fear grips the heart, or despair bows the head, may we bend as heart and head lead us down to touch the ground beneath our feet. May we scoop some sand into our hands and receive what the sand would teach us:

It holds the warmth of the sun when the sun has left our sight, as it holds the cool of the night when the stars have faded. Hidden among its grains are tiny seeds, at rest and waiting, dormant yet undefeated.

Desert flowers. They endure. Moistened by our tears and by the rains which come to end even the longest drought, they send down roots and they bloom.

May we believe in those seeds, and in the seeds within us. May we remember in our dry seasons that we, too, are desert flowers. Amen.
-- Margaret Keip
2Cor 4: 6 For God, who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts, that we, in turn, might make known the glory of God, shining on the face of Christ.