The God who
is before me, who looks at me, calls out to me. God raises me up, so that I can
become truly myself, the one I am meant to be. ‘I have called you by your name,
you are mine’ (Isaiah 47:1). Now, in that calling, there is also God’s
challenge to me: the challenge to emerge from shadows and darkness, to enter
more fully into truthfulness, and live in the light. The holiness and truth of
the God of love challenges me in this way. The prophet Ezechiel realised this
especially. At a time of destruction in Jerusalem and ensuing exile, Ezechiel
was called to absorb the burning word of God, and speak to the devastated
people, to raise them up, and bring them back to a renewed living of faith. He
saw himself therefore as a sentry or watchman to the House of Israel (Ezechiel
3:17-21; 33:7-9). And so it is today. We are called forth to live in the
light, to abide by the truth – the light and truth of God. So whenever I hear
someone calling out prophetically in this way, then their challenge is also a
blessing for me. And in my own heart, in my prayer, the Lord who is present
before me also calls me forth, to live with integrity, and truth, and love. Indeed,
the whole course of my life, and the challenges facing me in it, might be
summed up by those words inscribed on the memorial tablet of Blessed John Henry
Newman (1801-90), ‘Ex umbris et imaginibus in Veritatem.’ - ‘Out of the
shadows and images and into the Truth’.