EPIPHANY GIFT

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UPON YOU THE LORD SHINES

Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem! Your light has come,

the glory of the Lord shines upon you.

See, darkness covers the earth,

and thick clouds cover the peoples;

but upon you the LORD shines,

and over you appears his glory...(Is 60:1-2)

I was sitting in church early this morning, reflecting on this text from Isaiah, from the first reading for tomorrow’s Solemnity of the Epiphany, when I recalled an encounter I had with a student on Thursday. I’ll call him Jay.

I was going over his semester report card with him, asking him to explain the F and a couple of C-’s. His monosyllabic responses and complete lack of emotion were getting on my nerves. When he complained that his History teacher had written that Jay had been late several times, I stood up and said, “Well, let’s go next door and ask him what the story is.”

Jay and I walked a few steps to the next classroom to talk to the History teacher. The conversation between him and Jay was nothing unusual, until suddenly the teacher looked him in the eye and said, “Jay, when are you going to start dealing with all the personal issues you have inside you that are keeping you from doing your school work?”

It was as if a bright light suddenly shone through the window out of the dreary winter sky. I brought the conversation to a close and, thanking the teacher, stepped into the hallway and asked, “Do you agree with Mr. Riley that there’s stuff going on that’s keeping you from doing your work?”

I was surprised and relieved when Jay answered in a barely audible voice, “Yeah. He’s right. I went for counseling once last year, but then I stopped.”

So I asked him, “Well, do you think maybe it’s worth another shot now, before your grades get so bad that you won’t be able to get into college?”

He agreed to let me give his name to someone in our school’s Counselling Center, which I did half an hour later. (Our students are fortunate to have this resource so easily available.) I’ll check on Monday to see if he’s started counselling sessions or group meetings yet.

This was the incident that I thought of this morning during my meditation time.

The Christ event has already happened, but the God who delivered the Israelites through the Red Sea, the God who came in person to save us, is still on the move today in our lives. The “good news” involves not just some past event, not just the unveiling of a new future that lies ahead, but what N.T. Wright calls “a transformation of the present moment, sitting between the event that has already happened and a further event that therefore will happen.”

All of us are being called to let ourselves be transformed by the newborn Messiah into a light for the world around us. My self-centeredness is supposed to be transformed into a generous concern for others, my fears are to be transformed into trust, and the parts of me that are darkness are to be transformed into light. I caught a glimpse of that transforming action of God working in Jay’s life Thursday afternoon in the form of a challenge from a teacher to take a risk and go for help in dealing with his problems.

Then I started thinking about myself. My own transformation is part of the Good News, it is God’s plan for me. Am I able to let go and allow God to transform me? This grace-filled season is the perfect time to ask the Lord for that gift, the gift of letting go and allowing God to transform me into light for my students (like Jay), for my brothers in the monastery, and for everyone else the Lord puts into my life.

That little encounter with Jay took less than ten minutes, but I believe that, with God’s help, its effects may last for years.

Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem! Your light has come,

the glory of the Lord shines upon you.

See, darkness covers the earth,

and thick clouds cover the peoples;

but upon you the LORD shines,

and over you appears his glory.

HAPPY EPIPHANY!