Conference News for June 27

CONFERENCE NEWS

Moving Together in Spirit as a Conference

June 27, 2024

CONFERENCE MINISTER'S CORNER

Rev. Dr. Tony Clark

Transitional Conference Minister

Dear Folks:

I am writing this on the day of the Summer Solstice. I am profoundly intrigued by the seeming perfection of a planet that tilts toward and away from the sun, giving us four distinct seasons and a cycle of light and dark that allows our agriculture to flourish. These seasons are only possible a significant distance from the equator, because along the equator the days are of equal length throughout the year.

Light and sight are two major themes in our scriptures, and Jesus often conflates the two, contrasting them to darkness and blindness. Physically, sight is related to light—without light we are blind. Have you ever been on a cave tour that, while deep within the bowels of the earth, the tour guide flips off the light? That deep, thick, smothering darkness is the stuff of nightmares and horror movies for good reason. A sighted able-bodied person becomes immediately “dis-abled” when plunged into dank, dismal, disturbing darkness. Our eyes have evolved so that we are a diurnal (active during the daytime) species. My cat can see better at night than I can; her eyes evolved for diurnal and nocturnal hunting, and there is a shiny film at the back of her eyes called a tapetum (in dogs and cats, you may often see a Day-Glo green or yellow sheen coming from the back of the eye) that helps collect and focus dim light.

Spiritually, Jesus used light and sight as metaphors for understanding God. We cannot see God or God’s realm in any direct way; we must look askew, around corners and curves in the road, catching shadows and footprints of the One who passes our way. I feel God’s presence more than I see God, and dim candlelight can more often move me into a prayerful sense of God’s presence than glaring blazing sunshine.

There are no liturgical holidays that fall around the summer solstice. Pentecost is always several weeks before the solstice. Even in our secular seasonal holidays, the closest holiday to the summer solstice has traditionally been July 4; now, our newest federal holiday, Juneteenth, will always fall within days of the solstice. What might the Church have to say about the overwhelming amount of light at the summer solstice that aligns with a holiday celebrating that enslaved people had gained their freedom? When the ancient Israelites found themselves freed from Egyptian enslavement, as they wandered the desert, God led them during the day with a column of smoke and at night with a pillar of light, reminding them of God’s participation in their freedom. It is the long languid light of summer that comes when we need to remember that the light of freedom, the light of justice, the Light of God shines in the darkness and the darkness shall not overcome it.

Peace,

Pastor Tony