God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

1 Timothy 6:15b-16

I haven’t been going out after dark, camera in hand, looking to take nighttime photographs. But, every once in a while, I stop while walking Max to try to grab the occasional image. At the end of this post I will share a few from this past week.

Light always speaks to me with eloquence and clarity. And of course photography is nothing more than the task of capturing enough of it to tell the story but not so much that it gets washed away.

It’s a lot like the way we relate to God. The very brilliance of who God is so easily overwhelms our senses that we cannot even begin to see the one, “who lives in unapproachable light,” as the Bible tells us.

So it is no wonder that the shepherds in the field, witnessing angels who live in the immediate presence of God, were overwhelmed with light and awe, and they were – in the words of the King James Bible, “sore afraid!”

 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

Luke 2:9

The Holy can be overwhelming:

We live into our faith, and we worship as best we can, but then on those rare occasions when we begin to touch The Holy God’s presence can be overwhelming. So the priest whose turn it was to enter the Holy Place would have a rope tied to his foot, so the others could pull him out if it proved too dangerous, without putting themselves at risk.

Of course the whole idea of Christmas, and the birth of Jesus, is that of approachability. God incarnate. Still God but without the constant risk of obliteration! Yet we continue to maintain our distance, because the danger with Jesus is the relationship, the danger is what he might ask of us, the danger is his invitation to do more than to stand and stare at the babe in the manger – but to follow.

So Jesus is the light we can see, the light bright enough to show us God… but without the seared retinas.

The Light of His Glory and Grace:

Here are the best nighttime images from walking Max this past week. When you look at them, think about the Light of the World, and all that becomes possible – both to see and to achieve, “In the light,” as the hymn puts it, “Of His Glory and Grace.”

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace

Helen Lemmel

In love, and because of love – DEREK