On Sundays, Night Prayer takes its lead from some element from the day’s liturgy. Tonight we turn to these verses from today’s first reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. Speaking to Israel, the people who walked in darkness, the Lord promises LIGHT… These verses are ancient – and at the same, painfully contemporary. For tonight’s prayer, I invite you to ponder these words from Isaiah and then to pray with the song, « Light Is Kindled in the Darkness. »
Thus says the Lord:
Share your bread with the hungry,
shelter the oppressed and the homeless;
clothe the naked when you see them,
and do not turn your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed…
if you bestow your bread on the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted;
then light shall rise for you in the darkness,
and the gloom shall become for you like midday….
shelter the oppressed and the homeless;
clothe the naked when you see them,
and do not turn your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed…
If you remove from your midst
oppression, false accusation and malicious speech;if you bestow your bread on the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted;
then light shall rise for you in the darkness,
and the gloom shall become for you like midday….
Isaiah 58:7-10
Light Is Kindled In The Darkness
Light is kindled in the darkness
when our hope seems most absurd,
beacons through a shrouded future,
pledges of Christ’s steadfast word
Gifts of goodness yet unfold us
all around beneath above
signs of beauty still persisting
symbols of God’s constant love
Though the wrong appears victorious,
violence, prejudice and pride,
hope still rises from the wreckage
joy and grief stand side by side
We will feel both pain and promise
terror’s sting and love’s new birth
as we walk in light and shadow
on God’s blessed and bleeding earth
Raise your candle in the darkness
though the wick of faith burns low
feed the fire with grace and justice
and in wonder watch it grow
As we gather flames together
till they shine with warmth and light
God dispels the night of hatred
and the blaze of love burns bright
