Into Darkness
Guest Writer: Gary Kimmel
“If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will cover me, and the light around me turn to night,’ darkness is not dark to you, O Lord; the night is as bright as the day; darkness and light to you are both alike.” Psalm 139: 11-12.
Jeanne Fry. Moonlight
“In my mind, church talk about an association of darkness with evil and goodness with light made no sense.” Barbara Holmes in Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation: The Wisdom of Darkness, 29 December 2021.
If the psalmist is correct, why is darkness often associated with evil or bad in scriptural settings? There can be no question that bad things happen in the dark and that emotional and spiritual darkness can invade our being. These aspects of darkness should not be discounted. And yet, darkness can also be a place of great and even unexpected beauty.
Darkness presents us with opportunities to experience God’s unimaginable love: the stillness when the world has settled for the day; the beauty of an unhindered view of our stary cosmos; the call of an owl or nightingale. In meditation, darkness can bring a sense of peace and calming influence that allows us to come closer to God-within-us. And some services encompass darkness that quietly speaks to us (e.g., Chrismas eve; Easter vigil; Taize).
For most of our world’s peoples, darkness comes in another form – the color of one’s skin. In a recent meditation[1], Dr. Rev. Barbara Holmes, an African American, touches this in a very personal way:
Because I saw my Aunties negotiate darkness as a reality with as much potential as light, I stopped being afraid of the dark. I realized that sight and insight were not dependent upon the glaring light produced by humans, for there was an inner light that glowed and revealed much more. . . . In my mind, church talk about an association of darkness with evil and goodness with light made no sense. I knew that darkness held and healed me. So, there had to be many types of darkness that I could differentiate, dismiss, or embrace. . . .
Oh, that we all could experience this perspective of darkness.
Some night, find a dark, quiet place (not easy in today’s busy world) and take a deep breath. Then listen. Listen to the night creatures or the distant busy world or, maybe best of all, the silence. Experience the beautiful side of darkness.
1 Barbara Holmes in Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditations, 29 December 2021.
Gary Kimmel
St. Mark’s Lent Contemplative Service