Ordinary objects can be transformed and transfigured by light. I pondered this, with a smile, when I caught sight of this bright flash of colour, touching some of the things at the bottom of our stairway. Sun shining through stained glass, making the dimness glow. The season of Epiphany is all about light, and how it reveals and transforms. ‘Repent!’ cries Jesus in the Gospel of Mark, as he launches his mission in the world: ‘Think differently!’ That’s what the word Jesus used – metanoia – actually means: ‘Change the way you see the world. Because look: the kingdom of God is near!’ (Mark 1:14-15). How might the light of the Gospel – the Good News of the Kingdom of God – cast the world in new colours?
How might it help us to see as extraordinary and beautiful what we previously saw as dull and insignificant? How might it throw darkness into deeper relief? What might it mean for we, ourselves, to be the stained glass through which the Light shines, casting that glow and beauty into the world? I wonder.
Rev. Claire