Dear Friends,
Our Bible study group during Lent turned out to be popular, and at the request of the participants we have started to meet again on Thursday nights from 7 - 8 PM. [The schedule may change during the summer.] We are studying the Gospel of John, one chapter a week. This is rich and fascinating material, and I encourage you to join in.
When reading the first chapter of John in our initial meeting, we quickly came across one of John’s major themes- and primary metaphors-as he refers to Jesus as the Light, and as a bearer of God’s light. The Rev. Robert Fulghum has written about a seminar he attended at which one of the participants asked the leader to describe what he considered to be ‘the meaning of life.’ The question provoked a wave of chuckling and laughter in the room. But without laughing at all, the leader took a wallet out of his pocket and removed a small, round mirror about the size of a quarter. He then told them, ‘When I was a child during World War II, we were very poor. One day on the road, I found the broken pieces of a mirror from a German motorcycle wreck. I tried to reassemble the whole mirror, but since I couldn’t, I just kept the largest piece: this one,’ he said, holding up small mirror he had taken out of his wallet. ‘By scratching it on a stone, I made it round and turned it into a toy. Over time I became fascinated at how I could reflect light into dark places where the sun couldn’t shine. It became a game for me to get light into the most inaccessible places that I could find. I kept the little mirror, and as I grew up, I would take it out at idle moments and continue the challenge of the game.
‘As I grew up, I saw that this was not just a child’s game, but a metaphor of what I could do with my life. I came to understand that though I may not be the source of the light, nonetheless, light is always there, and it can shine in many dark places if I direct it there. I am a fragment of a mirror whose entire design and shape I do not know. Nevertheless, with what I have, I can reflect light into the dark places of this world - into the dark places of human hearts - and make at lest some small changes for the better. Perhaps others seeing it happen will do likewise. This is what I am about.’
That is about as good a depiction of ‘the meaning of life’ I can think of. May we all find ways, even if they are small and merely local, to bring more light, goodness and hope into the world through the ways we live day to day, and through the love and helpfulness we bring to each person that comes across our path.
Your Pastor,
Tony Acheson
