Light in the Window - January 22, 2025

Dear Covenant Friends,

The first thing I did on Martin Luther King Day was drive my husband to a scheduled surgery. We were on the roads before sunrise and it was cold and slippery, with a surprising number of cars on the road. We were halfway there when the windshield wiper fluid ran out and the wipers continued to wave back and forth in futility. Fortunately, I had a big jug of wiper fluid in my trunk and eventually we got off the highway to fix it. But for too long things were blurry, and I was looking out the edge of a window smeared with sludge and ice, desperately following the taillights in front of me.

I keep thinking about that windshield, and the little bit of fear I felt when I couldn’t see clearly in the dark. It made me quiet. It caused me to concentrate more on my driving. It prompted me to pray. My husband and I had to work together to solve a problem we didn’t ask for while on a road we didn’t want to be on, to a place we didn’t want to go.

Sometimes our view of life in general feels blurry, or scary, or dark. It’s ok to take time to be quiet, to concentrate on what’s important, to pray, to work together with others on solving real problems. Even in the bleak midwinter. I hope that’s what church does for us - by inviting us to silence, mystery, prayer and worthy causes. My favorite moment from last Sunday’s worship was singing “We Shall Overcome”, with the choir leading us. You can find that recording here. The installation service was yet another highlight from January, and that service can be accessed here.

Let’s keep looking for the Light together.

Blessing for the Light by David Whyte



I thank you, light, again,

for helping me to find

the outline of my daughter’s face,

I thank you light, for the subtle way

your merest touch gives shape

to such things I could

only learn to love

through your delicate instruction,

and I thank you, this morning

waking again,

most intimately and secretly

for your visible invisibility,

the way you make me look

at the face of the world

so that everything, becomes

an eye to everything else

and so that strangely,

I also see myself being seen,

so that I can be born again

in that sight, so that

I can have this one other way

along with every other way,

to know that I am here.

Pastor Jessie

pastor@covenantweb.org

Church of the Covenant | Website | Covenant Life