Here comes the sun
Sundial, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Where is the light of God’s love directing your attention?
The face of one of the six sundials installed in 1963 above the Gate of Honour at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, encourages me to dream of a hopeful future for Christianity. It inspires me to reconnect with some basic axioms of our faith in a way which frees and energises me in equal measure.
The interaction between the sunlight and the Gnomon, the metal rod, produces a shadow which directs us to a particular place on a flat-plate chronological scale, where we read off the local time. This particular sundial reminds us of this truth with a charmingly anthropomorphic representation of the sun from which all the lines of meaning and interpretation emanate.
From a faith perspective this reminds me that the only way to live life to the full, as individuals, network’s and churches, is to orientate ourselves to the light of God’s love in such a way that all of our focus and energy is directed to a place and purpose of God’s choosing. Then we will be living in God’s Kairos time, wherein decisions and actions are imbued with a sense of divine synergy as the Holy Spirit moves amongst us.
All of this is possible because the gnomon casts a shadow which points to where our attention needs to be. The shadow cast by church upon our common life is all too apparent as we worry about the future and the spiral of decline which seems to be accelerating. It is a shadow which debilitates, demoralises and drags us down. Yet paradoxically, it points beyond what we know, beyond the tired familiar practices, to a brighter future which is unfolding in God’s time where God chooses.
As we align ourselves with the light of God’s love in Jesus, we are directed beyond the church to new people and new places where love is coming alive and fresh potential sparkles like the sun’s rays on dew in a field containing hidden treasure, or upon a pearl of great price. This sense of excitement and expectation is clearly at the centre of Jesus’ own appreciation of God’s Kingdom:
The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure that is hidden in a field. A crafty man found the treasure buried there and buried it again so no one would know where it was. Thrilled, he went off and sold everything he had, and then he came back and bought the field with the hidden treasure part of the bargain.
Or the kingdom of heaven is like a jeweller on the lookout for the finest pearls. When he found a pearl more beautiful and valuable than any jewel he had ever seen, the jeweller sold all he had and bought that pearl, his pearl of great price.
Matthew 13:44-46
These parables exemplify a willingness to change course, to switch priorities and be nimbly responsive and flexible in our discipleship, lest the moment be gone, with the opportunity for Spirit-led mission passing us by. Only by being wholly directed by God’s light can we expect to live in Kairos time. Otherwise, in the institutional church, we risk remaining lost and confused in an energy and hope sapping confusion of shadows and fading twilight memories of what was. So we take heart, we are encouraged, we feel new energy and fresh excitement, for as the words of Haggai clearly demonstrate, it has always been like this:
Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing? Yet now take courage…for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts
Haggai 2:3-4
As we approach the Winter Solstice on 21st December, and the shortest period of daylight, it is good to be reminded of the power of the light and the living brilliant hope which beckons to us within and through the narratives of Advent and Christmas.
