“Night and darkness and fog,
confused world and turmoil.
Dark gloom tears the earth,
beats and stabs the sun.”
            ~Aurelius Prudentius Clemens (348-413)

This is from a wondrous new piece of music called “Illuminare” by Elaine Hagenberg. This weekend, the Cherry Creek Chorale will perform it. It’s not to be missed if you’re local. If you’re appreciative of master works, this is Faure Requiem-kind-of-good.

But don’t get stuck on the text above. The piece is ultimately about illumination. And how timely it is! Our world seems to move from darkness to darkness. We could be on the cusp of WW3, literally. I don’t know if there will ever be peace on earth. Autocrats always seem to find a way to destroy people.

David French writes, “Men like (Putin) are ubiquitous in human history. They rise and fall with almost metronomic regularity. There are always men drawn to absolute power.” And the people respond. The people want a king, but the people need to be very careful. Putin’s people will suffer terribly because of the world’s sanctions (and his own actions), but I suspect he doesn’t care. It was never about them. It’s all about him.

BUT…the autocrats don’t have the final word. Illumination will prevail.

Here are some subsequent words from “Illuminare” from John 14:27. “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

Not as the world giveth.

The peace God gives supersedes the winds of war. Even the autocrats can’t take that away.

And therein is the beauty. Stabbing the sun is temporary. Illumination and peace will win.

But in case that sounds too pie-in-the-sky, let’s bring it home to the here and now. Although we can all be “armchair presidents” from time to time, not one of us has the big picture. We can pray for the world leaders standing against this evil, because it seems what they need most right now are clarity, wisdom and courage.

Illumination.