Light of the world, shine on our faces…

Just yesterday I was reading Psalm 80, which repeatedly cries out: “Restore us, O God, let your face shine, that we may be saved.” I participated in a week-long Outward Bound type team building event years ago. At the end of the week, I walked into the instructor’s lunchroom to talk with the instructor: there was a glow that surrounded him. His face was shining!I believe in haloes now.

We read in the prologue of John’s gospel that the Word came to life, and that “the life was the light of all people” (John 1:4), and that darkness does not win. How great is THAT?!

And so we pray to our Friend for blessings and safety and ask that we go to our sleep aglow with the Light that transforms and saves us.

Friend and Lover, bless us and keep us; Light of the world, shine on our faces; Transfigured Yeshua, lift us to glory. May the darkness of night deepen and dazzle.

(Prayer at Night’s Approaching, Jim Cotter, Morehouse Publishing, 1998)