John wrote to early followers of Jesus who faced horrors of persecution and fear. They longed to glimpse the Holy One, to give their lives to a greater purpose beyond the limits they knew. The text we’re about to read would have been for those who heard it something like the beautiful transition in the very first movement of Rutter’s Requiem, from the dark, foreboding opening “Requiem aeternam…” into the lyrical “et lux perpetua luceat eis”, “let perpetual light shine” as we lit the Christ Candle to begin our worship. As we share the longing for the light of Christ amidst our stress and loss, friends, hear what the Spirit may say. {Read Revelation}