Hey everybody,
Mark here,
Monk and Docs.
Day 24.
We're going to do another Lectio Divina today.
Today's Lectio Divina is going to come from Exodus 20-18.
To 21.
And today we're going to sit with the idea that God is darkness.
So this little story we're going to reflect on in our Lectio.
There's a beautiful little detail in the story.
That we can easily miss if we're not careful.
The people are standing at a distance,
There's thunder,
There's lightning,
There's smoke,
The mountain trembles,
All the people are afraid.
But the text tells us that Moses draws near.
And that Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.
Now I want you to catch that,
The darkness.
Where God was.
Now,
We.
.
.
Often associate encountering God as moving from darkness to light.
To understanding,
To clarity,
To some sort of certainty.
Imagine that the closer we get to God,
The more everything should make sense.
But this text today gives us another image.
Moses approaches the darkness.
So the text isn't saying God's evil,
Not at all.
Because darkness isn't the opposite of God.
But.
.
.
God is beyond what Moses can see.
Beyond what Moses can comprehend,
Beyond what Moses.
.
.
Human brain can contain.
So there's a kind of darkness that comes.
Not because of the absence of light,
But because of the intensity of mystery.
Experience something like this in ordinary life.
If you stand beneath an enormous night sky,
You realize how little you can see.
If you look out across the ocean.
Towards the horizon.
You realize you cannot see.
The end.
Of the ocean.
If you try to comprehend the sheer scale of the universe.
Have you ever done this?
Your mind just starts to hurt.
Because it reaches its limit,
And God is like that.
God is love.
In a way.
Is hidden.
Because God is more than our capacity to see.
It's not God playing hide and seek.
We just can't see.
The enormity.
Of God.
And so the Christian mystical tradition has often spoken about this darkness of unknowing.
There's a point where we stop trying to.
.
.
Get towards a clearer picture of God,
And we have to surrender our pictures altogether because we don't know.
We can't know.
And I think,
Strangely.
.
.
That becomes a place of encounter.
A place where we can meet God,
Even in that darkness and that unknowing.
So as we enter this time of Lekdiya today,
Just sit with the text.
You'll be read three times.
There'll be silence for a minute the first two times and two the second.
And just sit with that idea.
About God being darkness and notice what happens when you imagine approaching the darkness where God is.
What if God doesn't always meet you in certainty?
What if Gauntan be encountered in the questions,
In the silence,
In the mystery,
In the places where the usual explanations just stop working?
You don't have to see God clearly.
Maybe you can just draw near and trust that the mystery is an empty.
But it's gone.
So as we get ready to start,
Just find yourself settled.
Take a deep breath in.
Just come to rest,
Mind,
Body,
Heart,
Fully present,
Fully alert,
Fully ready.
To sit with the text today.
And may God open our ears,
Our minds,
And our hearts.
To hear,
To think,
To receive.
And to be changed.
Are the words we hear today.
Let us begin.
Exodus 20 verses 18 to 21.
When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning,
The sound of the trumpet and the smoking mountains.
They were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance and said to Moses,
You speak to us and we will listen,
But do not let God speak to us or we will die.
Moses said to the people,
Do not be afraid,
For God has come only to test you.
And to put the fear of him upon you,
So that you do not sin.
Then the people stood at a distance while Moses drew near in the thick darkness where God was.
Exodus 20 verses 18 to 21.
When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning,
The sound of the trumpet and the smoking mountains.
They were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance and said to Moses,
You speak to us and we will listen,
But do not let God speak to us or we will die.
Moses said to the people,
Do not be afraid,
For God has come only to test you.
And to put the fear of him upon you,
So that you do not sin.
Then the people stood at a distance while Moses drew near in the thick darkness where God was.
Exodus 20 verses 18 to 21.
When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning,
The sound of the trumpet and the smoking mountain.
They were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance and said to Moses,
You speak to us and we will listen,
But do not let God speak to us or we will die.
Moses said to the people,
Do not be afraid,
For God has come only to test you.
And to put the fear of him upon you,
So that you do not sin.
Then the people stood at a distance while Moses drew near in the thick darkness where God was.
Let's pray.
God of the cloud and of the darkness,
Teach us not to be afraid of what we can't understand.
When our words run out,
When our certainty disappears,
When we can't see the way ahead.
Help us to remain.
Give us the courage to draw near to mystery,
Trusting that what we can't see isn't necessarily your absence.
You'll beyond our understanding and yet there.
Closer than we will ever know.
Help us to rest in that mystery.
And may grace,
Peace,
And love hold us.
As we meet you in that darkness today and always.
If you'd like to,
I'd love to hear what word or phrase or thoughts came to you in that time today.
Or what prayer rose in your heart.
At the end of our time.
Nearly done with our God is series,
God is Darkness.
We continue tomorrow.
Until then,
Bye for now.
