Daily Devotion for Saturday 28th June 2025

St John 12: 27 – 36

Jesus said: ‘Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—“Father, save me from this hour”? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.  Father, glorify your name.’ Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’  The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, ‘An angel has spoken to him.’  Jesus answered, ‘This voice has come for your sake, not for mine.  Now is the judgement of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.  And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’  He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.  The crowd answered him, ‘We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains for ever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?’  Jesus said to them, ‘The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going.  While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.’

Reflection

Before his crucifixion, Jesus told the disciples that the light was with them for a little longer, so they should walk in the light while they had it.

It is very hard for us to remain in the light. We may see some glorious moment of compassion or awe-struck wonder, but for many, holding that moment so that it goes on to lighten our most challenging times of suffering or injustice, is beyond difficult.

Perhaps the task of the Christian and the Church is to reflect and magnify these light-filled moments when we recognise them, so that those who need some light have a greater chance of seeing it. In other words, we are to become ‘children of light’, creating light-bearers.

Part of my role alongside the LGBTQIA+ community in Brighton and Hove is getting involved in as many organisations and groups as I can, listening to stories, exploring amazing questions, hearing great suffering, bearing the sin of the church, and wondering at the resilience and joy in people’s lives.

There are moments when it is my call to be light in the darkness: to remind the often unloved that God loves them. This is no small thing! There are many more moments when I am met with wonderful queer and non-binary children of light, who reflect Christ to me.

As we read and wonder with this passage from John today, I hope we can be brave enough to imagine that the light of Christ can come to us from surprising, often dark places. In these times of darkness in which those who are Trans and non-binary are vilified, might we be open enough to allow an amazing light of wisdom to teach us that God’s human family is much more gloriously varied than we might imagine. What might it mean to walk and grow into this light?
 
Prayer

Gracious God, open our hearts to the light of Christ this day.
Free us to allow that light to meet us from surprising places.
Engage our feet to walk where the light shines.
Move us to reflect and magnify every glimmer of love and hope.
The light of the world calls us.
Amen