“. . . the light has come into the world,” John the evangelist tells us in our gospel for today. The light of God, “the light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it,” is how John begins his gospel. The light of divine presence and holiness, the light of righteousness and wisdom, “. . . the true light, which enlightens everyone” is what he wants us to recognize, to come to know through his gospel.

“I am the light of the world,” Jesus tells those listening to his teaching in the temple, “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”(8:12) While we know in our hearts that following in the way of Christ is the way of peace and love, of joy and life, all too often we step off the path. In our Lenten self-examination, if we are diligent, we are likely to discover that there is a great deal in us that is like those “people who loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.” If so, we are called to confess with penitent hearts that “we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep, we have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts, we have offended against thy holy laws, we have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done.”(BCP p.41-42) Having done so, we can trust that “The Lord has put away all your sins.” (BCP p.448)

Some years ago, at a quiet day at Trinity, people had the opportunity to write down those things they needed to confess and nail them to a wooden cross. At the end of the day, each of us collected our scraps of paper and burned them in a large crucible, recognizing that the fire of God’s love burns away our dross leaving us pure and clean once more. John the elder points out that “God is light and in him there is no darkness at all” (I Jn.1:5), and that is God’s will for us, to incarnate God’s light shining forth into the darkness of our world.