Living in Color

 

I like those moments when I am at the church early, long before obligations and schedules break the dark solitude of the sanctuary. There is something peaceful and reverent about that transition hour. Between the dark and light, between the silence and the sound, lies a liminal space that recharges my spirit.

On this winter morning, the sun was streaming through the stained glass at an angle that seemed horizontal. The result was this eye- catching display of color. It seemed as if we had somehow captured the Northern Lights.

I paused just long enough to capture this image of colorful light dancing across the walls.

I could not help but think of places in the scripture where colors play a part. I recall the rainbow placed in the clouds after the great flood as a promise from God. Of course, I thought of Joseph and his coat of many colors . Our sins are described as scarlet and forgiveness as white as snow. The foundations of the city in the Revelation reflected the rich colors of the most precious of gems.

I remember when I was an elementary age boy and my father bought our family a color television. In those first few weeks of having the set, connected to an antennae on the roof, our neighbors would come by, not to watch a show on one of the three stations (three, if the weather was good), but to wait for a commercial. Why? To see the NBC peacock spread those colorful tail feathers! The colors were magnificent to our black and white eyes.

From that day forward, when I read in the Bible where Jesus said, “I have come that they might have life, and have it abundantly”, my young mind was thinking of the difference between living in black and white or living in color. All these years later, I feel the same. I long for a technicolor life in a technicolor world. I pray to have eyes to see the rainbow that is present each day as God’s love shines in the world.

Peace.