Namaste.
You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hid you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light sand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.
~Matthew 5:14-16 msg
Advent, week 3
If you’ve been in a yoga class before, you may know that “Namaste” is the traditional blessing that ends each session. The rough translation of this Indian word to English is, “The Light in me sees and honors the Light in you.” It’s a concept that evokes not only mutual respect and sovereignty, it speaks to the divine spark we discussed last week. What would this kind of recognition and experience of one another do to our planet if we were able to embrace it on every level? What might it mean if we could, from the heart, speak Namaste across every ethnic, political, and religious divide this Advent? In short, it would heal the brokenness of our world.
Jesus was called the Prince of Peace, and the angels harmonized the peace of his coming. Could we consider Jesus the ultimate Namaste?
The metaphor of Light was applied to Christ ubiquitously: More than anyone before or since, Jesus embodied the hope and healing and transformative power of God’s redemptive heart. “The True Light,” John calls him, and we know that to be true because we have experienced key parts of that hope, healing, and transformation already. But the Light of the World wasn’t content to shine from afar; he had to come close… because he saw and cared about what was smoldering in us, the light struggling against darkness. “A smoldering wick he will not snuff out,” Isaiah prophecies of him. Yes, Jesus saw something alive and precious and illuminated in us—and gave everything he had to blow that smoldering wick into flame.
What if we could blow on one another as well? What if we could see the Light in each other as well as the darkness—in Ukrainians as well as Russians, in both Palestinians and Israelis, in Muslims and Hindus, in Democrats and Republicans? What if we could see the Light in that obnoxious neighbor who plays his music too loud and bought every Christmas inflatable from Walmart?
“Anyone who claims to live in God’s light and hates a brother or sister is still in the dark. It’s the person who loves brother and sister who dwells in God’s light” (1 Jn 2:9-10). Who is my brother or sister? We looked at that a couple weeks ago: Essentially, it is the one who is different (but the same) and who is hurting. “Let your light so shine…” (Mt 5:16).
growing the soul
As we enter the third week of Advent, receive the gentle breath of Christ, blowing on the embers of your soul, rekindling your life and love, your very soul into flame. He is coming… for you.
serving the world
Would you breathe the prayers of your rekindled soul out toward a hurting world now? Whether neighbor next door or neighbor across the world, would you send them Love and Light? It matters. And it works.
takeaway
Namaste.