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| Image by May Wong |
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A GREETING
Arise! Shine! Your light has come;
the Lord’s glory has shone upon you.
(Isaiah 60:1)
A READING
People don’t light a lamp and then put it in a closet or under a basket. Rather, they place the lamp on a lampstand so that those who enter the house can see the light. If your whole body is full of light—with no part darkened—then it will be as full of light as when a lamp shines brightly on you.”
(Luke 11:33;36)
MUSIC
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
God's radiance is like the sunlight,
with rays flashing from God's hand.
(Habakkuk 3:4)
A REFLECTION
There is no creation that does not have a radiance.
Be it greenness or seed, blossom or beauty, it could not be creation without it.
- Hildegard of Bingen, as quoted by Matthew Fox
in his book, Wrestling with the Prophets:
Essays on Creation Spirituality and Everyday Life
VERSE OF THE DAY
The shining sun looked down on everything,
and the Lord’s work is radiant with glory.
(Sirach 42:16)
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| Image by May Wong |
Hildegard's visions began when she was a child of four or five. It was because of these enigmatic encounters that her parents felt she would be better suited to life in a convent. Her visions were active engagements with God and other divine beings which, as she describes it, were manifest almost entirely in qualities of light.
Eventually, Hildegard would come to use the word 'radiance' to describe the spiritual kinship that was present in the perfect orb of light that accompanied her visions. It was through these experiences that she was able to make the connection between a personal encounter with God, and the "living light" that is in all created things. As we hear in the short reflection above, for Hildegard Creation is not Creation without radiance.
When we talk about the glory of God, we tend to make it otherworldly and something separate from ourselves. But Hildegard's radiance can be found in the simplest flower and in the shining of the sea.
Essential to her spirituality is the understanding that all created life must be able to thrive in its own natural rhythms and characteristics. When we distort the natural beauty of Creation, we rob it of its radiance. When we overfarm the land without ever giving it a break, when we hybridize species that were never meant to be combined, when we pollute our oceans and rivers and harvest more than nature can resupply, we lose touch with the radiance that is everywhere around us.
How can we change this? How can we challenge ourselves to resist the temptation to distort and exploit what has already been made perfect in its essence by God?
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Scripture passages are taken from the Common English Bible.
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LC† Radiant Earth, Sacred Calling is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work.
Thank you and peace be with you!
