Light Shines in the Darkness
by Shaleen Camery-Hoggatt
January 15, 2021, amended January 20, 2021
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
…God called the light “day,” and named the darkness “night.”
And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
Genesis 1:3, 5
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came into being through him,
and without him not one thing came into being.
What has come into being in him was life,
and the life was the light of all people.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness did not overcome it.
John 1:1-5
O Lord of my heart, …by day or by night waking or sleeping,
thy presence my light
--Be Thou My Vision, Celtic Blessing & hymn,
Attributed to St. Dallan Forgaill; translated by Elanor Hull
With a friend, I share my thoughts about light and dark,
…how the creation story depicts them as two parts of a whole,
…how darkness gives shape and edges to the light,
…how light overcomes darkness
even if only a tiny flame on a small candle
or a lighted match
even in the vast darkness of
a great cavern or cathedral,
…how light wins.
Our eyes adjust and we gain vision… even in the darkness.
For there is always light.
If only we’re brave enough to see it.
If only we’re brave enough to be it.
–Amanda Gorman, Inauguration Poem, 1/20/2021
Every morning the sun comes up
and declares a new beginning.
When we fall asleep in the darkness of night,
we do not worry or question whether morning will come.
We know the colors of dawn will welcome us to a new day and all its gifts.
We know:
Light wins,
but darkness is necessary for a day to be whole,
for creation to be whole,
for life to be whole.
Darkness is necessary for wholeness.
We miss a full, whole life
if we avoid, resist, fight, distract, mask, fear
darkness.
We live fully when we embrace the darkness as well as the light.
And my friend responds by recounting a memory
of another’s lifelong dislike of black,
her refusal to include black fabric in her quilts,
until someone points out the beauty of contrast
that is created when black is adjacent to any other color.
Black frames, black squares, black shapes.
When stitched together in a quilt,
the black causes other colors to “pop” with vibrancy.
The result is bolder, brighter, sharper, more vivid
and beautiful.
And so she stopped rejecting black scraps of cloth in the fabric basket,
stopped excluding black from her quilts.
Clarity of vision may come
in the discovery that black is the center of gravity on the color wheel,
the recognition that black is the complete absorption of visible light,
which means it is actually full of light.
We just can’t see the light
when we are immersed in light’s complete absorption--
darkness.
So black—the color of darkness—
grounds and centers,
gives weight and fullness.
Darkness is necessary for wholeness, for creation.
Living a day,
living a life,
living in fullness,
being whole—
it all requires both day and night,
both darkness and light.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
Psalm 119:105
There is enough light to see our feet,
enough light to see the path.
What I want to have illuminated
is a great vista,
a sweeping panorama,
the entire journey all the way to my destination.
What I’m given is enough light to see the next step.
Even in times of darkness,
that is enough.
We are held by Jesus,
—the LIGHT OF THE WORLD.
That makes all the difference.
When we are awakened in the middle of the night,
when we go through the valley of the shadow of death,
when we are in the Dark Night of the Soul,
when we experience a season of darkness,
when we are afraid of the dark,
it makes all the difference
that we are held by Jesus,
--the LIGHT OF THE WORLD.
“Star” by George Courage
About the Author
Shaleen Camery-Hoggatt is a Spiritual Director, retreat speaker, and teacher, with an M.A. in College Student Development. She has worked at colleges and universities on both coasts and taught elementary school for 20 years. She has been married to the love of her life for over four decades, raised three children, welcomed their spouses, and delight in her two grandloves.
She has an incurable cancer—multiple myeloma—which has had a significant impact on her spiritual journey as she walks through the “shadow of the valley of death,” living with pain, limitations, loss, chronic illness, risk-filled medical treatments and their side effects. She is grateful for the gift(s) of each new day, her experience of God’s faithful, empowering, embracing Presence, provision, and grace have deepened her faith and the felt-reality of being God’s beloved daughter. If she could communicate one message through the entirety of her life and work, it would be to confidently proclaim to each individual, “You are beloved of God!”