Sermon quotes on light
Douglas Adams
“Nothing travels faster than the speed of light, with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws.”
Leonard Cohen
“There is a crack in everything.
That’s how the light gets in.”
Selected Poems, 1956-1968
V. Raymond Edman
Never doubt in the dark what God told you in the light
Carl Jung
As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.
J. R. R. Tolkien
Galadriel: “May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out.”
The Fellowship of the Ring (1954)
Abraham Lincoln
I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have.
Groucho Marx
Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let in the light.
Norm Rice
Dare to reach out your hand into the darkness, to pull another hand into the light.
Bob Ross
Put light against light – you have nothing. Put dark against dark – you have nothing. It’s the contrast of light and dark that each give the other one meaning.
Albert Schweitzer
Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown again into instant flame by an encounter with another human being.
William Shakespeare
How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world.
William Shakespeare
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Mary Stewart
Every life has death and every light has shadow. Be content to stand in the light and let the shadow fall where it will.
J.R.R. Tolkien
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.
The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1)
Edith Wharton
There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that receives it.
Brennan Manning
The men and women who are truly filled with the light are those who have gazed deeply into the darkness of their own imperfect existence.
Avery Brooke
When I looked for God in the light, God was not there. When I faced the unfaceable, I found that I had joined God in the darkness. And so, paradoxically, the darkness had become light.
Eugene H. Peterson
Morning in Hebrew has the meaning of “penetration.” God’s day is not complete until light shines again, penetrating the darkness and dispersing the shadows.
Nunc dimittus
Lord, you now have set your servant free,
The Canticle of Simeon
Og Mandino
I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars.
Plato
We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark: the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.
Taken from Leadership, Vol. 1, no. 2.
Luigi Pirandello* (For contrast)
‘Truth’ [is] what we think it is at any given moment of time.
Jonathan Edwards
I make it my rule, to lay hold of light and embrace it, wherever I see it, though held forth by a child or an enemy
Dorothy Thompson
Fear grows in darkness; if you think there’s a bogeyman around, turn on the light.
Puritan Prayer
Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from the deepest wells.
And the deeper the wells the brighter thy stars shine;
Let me find thy light in my darkness,
Thy life in my death,
Thy joy in my sorrow,
Thy grace in my sin,
Thy riches in my poverty,
Thy glory in my valley.
Original Author Unknown
Blind in heart since my birth, I come to you, Light of the World…Let me live as a child of light.
Aveugle de Coeur
Thomas à Kempis
O Light eternal, surpassing all created brightness, flash forth the lightning from above and enlighten the inmost recesses of my heart. Cleanse, cheer, enlighten, and enliven my spirit with all its powers, that it may cling to you in ecstasies of joy. Oh, when will that happy and wished-for hour come, when you will fill me with your presence and become all in all to me? So long as this is not given me, my joy will not be complete.
Imitation of Christ (c. 1418–1427)
Douglas Kaine McKelvey
We praise you, O God, for light in darkness, for bonfires and beacons, for hope and companionship and bright waystations on our journey.
“Liturgy for the Enjoyment of Bonfires in the Night” in Every Moment Holy Vol.1, 2020.
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