“Though you were once darkness now as Christians you are light. Prove yourself at home in the light. For where light is there is a harvest of goodness, righteousness, and truth. Learn to judge for yourself what is pleasing to the Lord; take no part in the barren needs of darkness, but show them up for what they are.” Ephesians 5:8-11 REB

My friends use words like sad, difficult, and hard to describe the times we are living in. Universal values of goodness, mercy and compassion, in our treatment of immigrants have been corrupted and vilified. We are no longer the nation, I thought we were, or hoped we would be.

Concerns touch multiple areas,  across disciplines of  health care, education, a warming climate,  and national security,  to the decimation of essential  research.

We started a war that threatens to spin out of control throughout the Middle East, into a much larger regional war. We did so with ever changing reasons, and little thought of consequences, suffering imposed and whole scale destruction. At home, we fear for those in our military who have been put in danger’s way. We ache for losses of our service members and grieve for families.

In Washington, the war’s economic impact and increased price of gas, appear to be of  far more pressing concern, than the deaths of innocents. Some days it feels like we have fallen into a chasm, an abyss where light cannot reach. Checks and balances of an earlier time have disappeared, and our nation’s moral compass has splintered.

Last week, in my morning devotions, I was encouraged by Henry Nouwen’s words, written many years ago.

                 “Joy.” he wrote, “does not come from positive predictions about the state of the world. It does not depend on the ups and downs of the circumstances of our lives. Joy is based on the spiritual knowledge that, while the world in which we live is shrouded in darkness, God has overcome the world. Jesus says it loudly and clearly: “In the world you will have troubles, but rejoice, I have overcome the world.”
                 The surprise is not that, unexpectedly, things turn out better than expected. No, the real surprise is that God’s light is more real than all the darkness, that God’s truth is more powerful than all human lies, that God’s love is stronger than death.”
—Henri Nouwen, Here and Now

While  we may  despair about the state of our world, God’s light continues to shine. It shines in our disillusionment, our frustration and in our fears. It shines in spite of all evil intent. God’s truth uncovers falsehoods, revealing what has been hidden in the darkness. And God’s love sustains,  giving strength for the day.

“For where light is there is a harvest of goodness, righteousness, and truth.” Ephesians 5:9