As the global Church enters into the penitential season of Lent, we at M25i desire to walk with Jesus and be shaped by His heart for justice, mercy, and for those overlooked among us. For the next forty days of Lent, we invite you to come with us on a journey to discover the heart of God as revealed in Isaiah 58: true fasting.

Won’t you join us?

Rend Your Heart, by Jan Richardson

Day 4 : Saturdays are for Prayer | Light in the Darkness

We are transitioning from The Season of Light (Advent/Christmas/Epiphany) into Lent, the season of reminding ourselves how dark the world is without Christ, how desperately we need Easter after Good Friday. There is no hope without the resurrection, but we must know what death means for life in Christ to have its full import. 

We do not need reminders of darkness. But we must resist escape or despair, callousness or distraction. We are called to hold light strong and bright in the darkness.  William Shakespeare speaks to it at the turn of the 17th century. St. Francis speaks to it at the turn of the 12th century. They are both hinting at Isaiah 58 which beckons, attracts, calls to our aching as we listen to the challenge:

“How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world.” 
William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice


“All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.” 
St. Francis of Assisi

Then your light will break forth like the dawn…..then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. – Isaiah 58:8, 10

Take a moment to pray this over your mind, soul, heart, and community:

Prayer for Light in Darkness


Beautiful Jesus
Who is steady and constant and firm
Solid and living, comforting yet powerful

 

Lord, let us be overtaken by You, by your Light
That we may be so transformed into the likeness of Your Spirit
whose very essence is life


That our sole desire would be to fight
For connection
For justice
For the un-silencing of voices

 

Father, let us be so filled with You, with your Light
That love would wander into every crevice of brokenness
That has shattered the hope of the ones forgotten


That the darkness would have no choice
but to surrender into the shadows of shalom
And, that we would know the all-consuming surrender of reverence
Of admiration for the beauty of Your image
in each and every person we meet
So that we, in turn, would reflect back Your Light

 

This Light of hope
And joy
And redemption

 

This Light of forgiveness
And truth
That we would become reflections of You
That we would become lights in the dark

Amen.
 

by Tiona Cage