Episcopal Church & Visual Arts (ECVA) has published online its Advent Exhibition, Light of the World, which opens with my favorite Christmas scripture: 

"When peaceful silence lay over all,
and the night had run half of her swift course,
your all powerful word, O Lord, leapt down from heaven,
from the royal throne." Wisdom 18:14,15

Curator, Peggy Parker, selected the work of 30 artists who work in multiple disciplines, each addressing the theme of the coming of Christ as the light of the world.  My work above included in the exhibition, Dominus Illuminatio Mea, is an image of bracelets introduced into our church by a former member.  It was a nice idea, but I have yet to see that illumination happen in that venue.  

But we keep on wearing our bracelets and keep on asking. 

Have you ever noticed that the most beautiful times of day are times of transition - early morning and twilight?  I have wondered if this is because of the exquisite truth in silence and anticipation of change in light.  An Ethiopian proverb echoes this theme:

"Truth and morning become light with time."

Window from St. Andrews Episcopal Church, Birmingham, Alabama, thanks to a guest photographer.  Isn't it exquisite?

St. Andrew seems to have "a unique light" shining "forth from the individual". 

"It is not an easy thing to embrace ugliness with the sole motive of hope that in some unknown way a transformation into beauty might occur thereby.  But the myth of kissed frogs turning into princes remains.  Yet how does kissing the frog turn it into a prince?  How does the methodology of love work?  How does it heal?  I don't know exactly.  

I don't know because love can work in many ways, and none of them are predictable.  I know that the first task of love is self-purification.  When one has purified oneself, by the grace of God, to the point at which one can truly love one's enemies, a beautiful thing happens.  It is as if the boundaries of the soul become so clean as to be transparent, and a unique light then shines forth from the individual."

M. Scott Peck, M.D., from People of the Lie

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M. Scott Peck is one of my favorite writers, and People of the Lie one of the best reads ever.   Peck's quotation above reminds me of Matthew 6:22-23:

The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.

To me, this speaks to just plain smarts, not really moral choices.  Seeing the difference in good and evil is possible for those with (single) eyes to see.   First we see truth, and self-purification begins as "the whole body also is full of light".   Now that's something to work with and, I suspect, the primary way that God illuminates us.   

I have not figured out how to kiss a frog just yet.  But when and if I do, will this hope for transformation into beauty be an act of joining in creation by painting with love?

"Truth is righteousness. Righteousness is light, and light is bliss."

                                                   Sri Swami Sivananda Saraswati Maharaj