Musings: My Lighthouse? Or A Mystery of Love?
- Lloyd Bruce
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Another invasion of United Church folk from the Maritime provinces has come and gone and I am left with the memory of many good conversations and what I found to be poor music and even poorer theology. Lyrics and a link below.
At the center of my angst is a song that we sang too many times (and once was one too many times for me): My Lighthouse.
My Lighthouse is a high energy paise song written by the Rend Collective that comes with actions: joining your hands together over your head and waving them in an undulating motion (light houses don’t do that), and then putting your hands in front of you, again joined together and moving them up and down as a boat being guided over the waves, safe to shore. The trouble is, lighthouses don’t do that either. Lighthouses keep you safe FROM the shore. Lighthouses are signs of danger! Lighthouses guide mariners away from the places they are set!
I am further troubled by the propagation of theology in song that personifies the unnamable: YOU. The audacity of addressing divine mystery of the universe as you. Our ancient Abrahamic siblings in faith were onto something I believe, when they refrained from naming the mystery that called them, inspired them, guided and sustained them.
Peter Rollins puts it this way, “ To take our ideas of the divine and hold them as if they correspond to the reality of God is thus to construct a conceptual idol built from the materials of our mind.”
Yes, it was a wonderful thing to see so many youth connected and engaged and energized. Yes, it was a blessing to share in cross-generational connections, but please, surely our experience and expression of faith, is and can be, more expansive and creative than inanimate objects and the dualism of success and failures, doubt and certainty, light and dark. Instead, might we sing and invite others to sing songs that are expansive and creative, rooted in imagination that connects us to the Universe and is evolving nature.
We are guided by the Mystery of Love, light made known in ancient stories,
made new in their telling within our present context.
We find safe haven in the expansive love of community,
it is there where the mystery of love does life changing work.
And yes, as Janet Gear, in her presentation, the Theological Banquet said, “God is a oneness made of difference”.
May it be so,
Lloyd
My Lighthouse
In my wrestling and in my doubts
In my failures You won't walk out
Your great love will lead me through
You are the peace in my troubled sea, oh oh
You are the peace in my troubled sea
In the silence, You won't let go
In the questions, Your truth will hold
Your great love will lead me through
You are the peace in my troubled sea, oh oh
You are the peace in my troubled sea
My Lighthouse, my lighthouse
Shining in the darkness, I will follow You
My Lighthouse, my lighthouse (oh oh)
I will trust the promise,
You will carry me safe to shore (Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)
Safe to shore (Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)
Safe to shore (Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)
Safe to shore
I won't fear what tomorrow brings
With each morning I'll rise and sing
My God's love will lead me through
You are the peace in my troubled sea, oh oh
You are the peace in my troubled sea, oh oh
You are my light
My Lighthouse, my lighthouse (Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)
Shining in the darkness, I will follow You (Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)
My Lighthouse, my lighthouse (Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)
I will trust the promise,
You will carry me safe to shore (Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)
Safe to shore (Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)
Safe to shore (Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)
Safe to shore
Fire before us, You're the brightest
You will lead us through the storms
Fire before us, You're the brightest
You will lead us through the storms
Fire before us, You're the brightest
You will lead us through the storms
Fire before us, You're the brightest
You will lead us through the storms
My Lighthouse, my lighthouse (Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)
Shining in the darkness, I will follow You (Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)
My Lighthouse, my lighthouse (Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)
I will trust the promise,
You will carry me safe to shore (Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)
Safe to shore (Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)
Safe to shore (Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)
Safe to shore
Looking Ahead
I am in Moncton on Monday for meetings and pastoral visits and on Monday evening I will gather with the Central United Church Council for their regular meeting.
I will taking Tuesday morning off and in the afternoon I have pastoral visits scheduled in the Sackville area.
Wednesday morning will be devoted to setting up for two community gatherings. At noon Sackville United Church will host a BBQ for Open Sky and all those who gathered for Coffee and Conversation on Wednesday mornings over the past year. This will be our transition into a Summer Pause for our Wednesday Coffee gatherings. And then, on Wednesday evening Sackville United will host the governing bodies of the Collaborative for an BBQ and in-person grounding meeting. Lots of opportunities to connection and creating community!
I will take Thursday morning off (are you noticing a trend here - more below) and in the afternoon I have a number of pastoral visits scheduled in the Sackville area.
Friday and Saturday will be days off.
Onn Sunday at 11AM, I look forward to gathering with approximately 500 others at St. John’s United Church to mark the Centennial of the United Church of Canada. This service will available via St. John’s United Church Facebook page live at 11AM and later in the day via the St. John’s United Church YouTube channel.
And then, at 7:30PM I will watch the National Centennial Service on YouTube which is being broadcast from Gower Street United Church in St. John’s Newfoundland. If you’d like to follow along, you can download the bulletin here.
With the support of the Collaborative M&P Committee and we all shift into summer mode, I will focus on responding to any emergent issues as I strive to avail myself of remaining earned time off as a result of overtime accumulated over the past ten months. I remain available and ready to respond to your needs and may be reached by email at lloydabruce@icloud.com or by phone (506) 940-1151.
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