As a youth, growing up in the Southern Baptist tradition, we had vacation Bible school. And we took our show on the road and held the same several times over the course of a summer. Always, there was one song to sing with the kids, “This little light of mine…”. Come on, you have heard it. It has multiple verses of “won’t let Satan blow it out” and “won’t hide it under a bushel no!” and more after that. And, you held up your finger as the flame and did the requisite hand motions as well.
It was fun and it taught a great Biblical truth but I doubt that those kids or perhaps you ever really understood what that light was and is to you and in this world. The mystic, Thomas Merton saw it, on the corner of 4th and Walnut in Louisville, Kentucky many years ago. It changed him. So much so that today you will find a historical marker on that site explaining the event. He saw all of the people walking by as “shining with light” and they do not know it. Merton became more and more inclusive after that day.
Franciscan theology is one that unites the individual with all of nature. Duns Scotus was a writer and mystic from the middle ages who commented on St. Francis. Strikingly, he made a point that matters: we are not the clear glass that lets the light shine through. We are, instead, lighted from within; we are the light. That is a big difference and it changes how you see people. Looking for a Light that is shining through people is not the same as recognizing the light that is that person, or that thing, or that part of creation. Merton saw it. I want to see it too.
So, those kids (or you and most certainly me) did not have to put their finger in the air to represent the light. They (and you and me) ARE the light. All of creation is aglow with the presences of the Sacred Creator of all. What would our days look like if we, like Merton, saw every person, every animal, every thing glowing with the Light that lights the world? I am filled with joy at the thought. Why not give it a try?
TMM