Spring is a time of increasing daylight. TPT has been playing “Chased by the Light,” a program featuring the photography of James Brandenburg. Hearing him talk about his photography and capturing the light is a contemplative experience. It started me thinking about light.
Spring is a time of light. I look forward to longer days and more light!
I associate Easter with sunrise services. Two decades ago, Holy Week began to include an Easter service on Holy Saturday, really an ancient service revived by churches that used liturgy. I remember the first Easter Vigil service I attended. The church was filled with flowers and the scent of Easter was there . There was solemnity and beauty, and many readings not used at other services. I loved it in theory, but it never seemed like Easter. After the evening service, when I came out of the church, it was dark! There was no morning light.
Perhaps I had been programmed as a kid to think of Easter as an early service. I remember being a teen and going with friends to a sunrise service or singing in choir at all the services, the first being early. That was Easter. It is also about the light.
First light… that is when we are told the women went to the tomb of Jesus. Matthew says, “after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning.” Luke says, “at early dawn they came to the tomb,” and Mark says, “very early, when the sun had risen”. It’s about light, but it’s about more than light. It is about something new, something happening. Nature symbolizes it again and again. For me the symbol is first light.
The women at the tomb weren’t expecting what they found. That
First light, seeing your way in what had been dark
Seeing your way in a way that had been no way
Seeing possibility when there seems to be nothing
Having expectations shifted and shifted again
To a new reality.
I am including a picture of Spider lilies, taken in Glacier at the break of day. The black water surrounds the white flowers. When I saw the picture I called it “Resurrection. “ The photographer is my husband’s uncle who has taken many pictures in natural settings. Spend time with it and see what this photo has to say to you.
Ammie Gronert, MA/PS is a spiritual director with Sacred Ground.
