The first words spoken by God in the first page of the Bible is “Let There Be Light!”
I wonder if God needed to go any further.
Physicist David Bohm has been quoted as saying that “matter is frozen light.” By that he means that light is trapped in our bodies, trapped in between our subatomic particles that wiggle and vibrate and reflect that light between the particles such that the light is almost contained—but not quite.
I’m not articulate enough in this theory. My brother, with a PhD in Chemistry, is the science-minded between us…but the gist is there.
But we know that light can be released again from matter. When we burn a piece of wood for a campfire, we are releasing energy that originally came from the sun, captured by the leaves through the process of photosynthesis and stored in the wood.
So it is with us. We also have light “frozen” inside us, and not just from eating fruit and vegetables and their stored light. The light is stuck between our particles in our bodies, bouncing around until it finally finds a way out. Much like trying to get out of a fast-food restaurant’s children’s ball pit…it’s not that you can’t get it, it’s just difficult to!
But whenever we engage in acts of mission, service, worship, or intense fellowship…we feel a stillness in our heart, right? We get a sense of peace. I wonder if that’s because we’ve stilled the vibrating particles and the light escapes us to be shared again throughout the world.
From that perspective, regular worship, study, service and fellowship opportunities are times when we reset the light within us: when we still our souls so that the light can escape, to be refreshed by new light, to unfreeze the parts of us that need to be let go. To unblock the paths to our hearts and unblock the paths where our energies are poured out in service to those around us.
So take a little bit of time this week for still, maybe even silent prayer, service, or deep fellowship with one another. Let the light shine from you to illumine all those around us.