The Illuminous Darkness
By Fran Tilton Shelton
If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,’
even the darkness is not dark to you, the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.
Psalm 139:11-12
Howard Thurman describes experiences of deep-sea divers in his book, The Illuminous Darkness, which are instructive and hopeful in this season of Advent. Thurman writes that as divers begin their journey, they first pass through the ‘belt of fishes.’ This is a wide band of light reflected from the surface of the sea. From his area they move to a depth of water that cannot be penetrated by light above the surface. It is dark, foreboding, and eerie. The divers’ immediate reaction is apt to be one of fear and sometimes a sudden spasm of panic that soon passes. As they drop deeper and deeper into the abyss, slowly their eyes begin to pick up the luminous quality of the darkness; what was fear is relaxed and they move into the lower region with confidence and peculiar vision.
Our immediate reactions in the decent of Advent darkness is also that of fear and panic. We fear we won’t be unable to survive the darkness and ever see light again. We fear that we don’t have the abilities to maneuver through the darkness of broken relationships, addictions, illnesses, or bereavement. We panic and close our eyes to our surroundings.
Thurman speaks to us with faith-filled experience. He knows that often we sink deeper and deeper into our darkness of our fears and keep our eyes closed. He also knows that our hope comes in keeping our eyes open in the darkness. We, like the divers, will begin to see the luminous presence of the wise and compassionate community surrounding us who have gained the peculiar vision of hope. We will begin to see that what we thought was a sea of deep darkness is a night sky full of stars guiding us to the luminous presence of the babe in Bethlehem, Jesus, the Light of the World.
Fran Tilton Shelton is a founder of Retreat House Partner Faith & Grief Ministries, leads bereavement workshops, spiritual retreats and keynotes at conferences. For twenty years she served PC(USA) congregations in Texas, primarily in pastoral care and was affectionately called “Funeral Fran” by the love of her life and late husband, Bob. Learn more about Fran here.