Together we are the light

​​‘Together we are the light.’  
For me, this is a powerful message for it unites us with all people. No one person is the light – we all have the light within us and all express our inner light uniquely.

​There are many references to light in the Bible: 335 to be exact in the NRSVA (including the Apocrypha.)
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We find it at the very beginning in Genesis 1:3-4,

Photo Credit: Alonso Navarro

‘And God said, “Let there be light and there was light. God said the light was good.”’
In Matthew 5:14 Jesus tells his disciples, ‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.’

How many times are we actually encouraged to find the light of God already here within us? Moreover, not as a separate identity, not as a raisin is in a bun, as Unity minister and author, Eric Butterworth wrote, but as the wave is of the ocean – one with God as our Source and Being.

This is where I simply love Unity. For we are encouraged to discover and reveal our divine light, power, love and life that is the activity of God, waiting to find perfect expression within and as us. It is the gift given unconditionally to us all. It is the divine flow, waiting to be engaged, so that our united good can emerge.

Thus, our practice becomes looking for and seeing the light within ourselves and each other; no matter how someone is expressing themselves. The Gospel of Matthew reminds us that when we seek, we find – when done sincerely of course!

The important message is that we find and reveal our light together. For no matter how much we try, we are not supposed do this alone. Jesus had 12 disciples for a reason. 
When life is difficult or challenging, we help, support and encourage each other. We pray with each other. When life goes well, we celebrate with each other.

In my current role as Chair of the Association of Unity leaders and ministries UK, I witness the many ways that our Unity leaders, in the UK and overseas, encourage everyone to shine their light, as well as come together to support each other as members of our Unity UK association.

In my role as Director of Daily Word and our prayer ministry, Silent Unity UK, I witness the good reports and feedback we get from our readers and callers, about how much these services support and enrich lives.

Recently I facilitated a 10-hour course on metaphysics. We had 11 students from eight different countries. Anywhere else, I may have wondered how we might get on. Would we even understand each other? However, in Unity, there was no doubt. For we all wanted the same thing – a real and personal experience of God to help us live a transformed life.
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That united desire and intention brought us together to listen, learn and reveal the light that we are – the light within us all. Together, let us pray, celebrate and shine our light. For as we do, our light becomes brighter and clearer. Together, we experience our good.