We Have the Light So We Can Be the Light

A team of scientists at Surrey NanoSystems has the distinction of having created the blackest black known to man. It is darker than soot, darker than coal, darker than night. Once an object has been coated in their patented Vantablack, it stops reflecting light so that all visible depth and texture are lost, and the object takes on the appearance of a void. Vantablack sets a world record by absorbing 99.96 percent of visible light.

I’ve met Christians who are kind of like that, who seem unable or unwilling to reflect the least divine light. They weep Jeremiah’s tears but never dance David’s dance, they recite Job’s lament but never join in Miriam’s praise. They prefer to cast shadows than to spread light. Yet this world is already plenty dark and has little need of even more gloom. Sorrow and despair it already has in abundance. So too bitterness, wrath, anger, and clamor. There is lots of sadness, but little cheer; plenty to weaken people’s knees, but little to strengthen them again; plenty to cause their hands to droop, but little to lift them up once more. The great need of our fellow Christians is not darkness, but light—light to cut through the gloom, light to brighten their eyes, light to illumine the way we all must go. Read More