Welcome to The Light, your quiet hour of reflection.
After more than a year in captivity in Niger, American missionary pilot Kevin Rideout has been released. His return closes a long chapter of uncertainty for his family and the communities who held him in prayer through those difficult months.
Turning now to the currents of policy shaping daily life, the Trump administration moved this week to halt federal funding for gender transition procedures for minors, directing taxpayer-supported healthcare programs away from surgeries and cross-sex hormones for children. A separate executive order also instructs the Justice Department to pursue action against states that deny religious exemptions to vaccine mandates.
And in the realm of sacred interpretation, scholars and congregations continue wrestling with the book of Revelation, that ancient and luminous puzzle. Two broad traditions persist, one reading its visions as prophecy yet to unfold, the other seeing layered recapitulation, meaning repeated and deepened across its pages. Both remind us that some texts are not meant to be solved, but sat with.
That is this hour's reflection. Carry the light gently.
