So last night I was sitting quietly upstairs in our room, doing some work on my lap top, when all of the sudden Kurt and the two kids called to me from the front porch. Jamie was squealing with excitement and delight. They had spotted the “super moon” rising in the sky and I just had to rush down the stairs and come outside to see it. Jamie, who is 8, and kind of a space geek like his dad, was the most excited. He was wowed by that bright shining ball of light in the sky. We had to stand on the edge of our porch and had to crane our necks to see it between the houses and trees in our Old West End neighborhood. It looked pretty big. It was bright. I snapped a picture with my phone and posted it on Facebook like lots of other folks.
Then I came upstairs and read an article on the internet that said, yes, this is the biggest moon we have seen in 18 years! Because, of course the Moon is closer to the Earth because of the rotation patterns, I guess (it’s closer and full so it’s unique) . I’m not a scientist. But then the article said, the moon was really only 2% bigger than last month. HUH?
Well, yeah, to be honest, even though my kids were so excited, I have to confess, that the moon did not look all that different to me. It was a beautiful full moon. But it was not GINORMOUS.
But it was a bright light, shining in the darkness. And I don’t know about you, but I could use some light right now. There’s quite a bit of “BAD” going on in our world. And there just seems to be a primal longing within us, for light. It drew my whole family out on the front porch last night, to look at that ball that shines in the sky at night. Of course I know the moon does not shine. It’s reflecting the sun’s rays from the other side of the earth. But if you think about it, that’s pretty cool. Even at night, God wants to give us a sign, of light. So God designed a universe with a sun for the day, and stars and moons to shine at night. So we always have light in our darkness. That is a gift!
Today’s scripture is about Jesus, who we call our light (John 3:16-21 for those following along on the Net). And it talks about those ancient symbols of light and darkness. We say, we follow Jesus. That means we follow the one who is the light. And that means that in our lives we will always be striving to move toward the light, and trusting that even in the dark times of our lives, that the light will prevail. That’s what it means to follow Jesus. Some weeks, it’s harder than others to trust in that light, and to choose light. The powers of darkness seem so strong in our world.
It was another one of those weeks, wasn’t it? Last night, after the airstrikes had started in Libya, a friend of mine posted this on Facebook: “
This is scary stuff.
But then I read a tiny little story somewhere, about the people that work at that nuclear plant. It said that there is a great sense of camaraderie among the workers, sort of like what you see among fire fighters and what we saw here in our country on Sept 11. The story said, that before this incident, during lunch breaks, in the cafeteria, workers would get into conversations about the potential risks. They knew there was always a chance that something could go terribly wrong. Of course, like any of us, they did not want to think about it.
But just like a soldier who goes off to a war zone, or a police officer who straps on a gun every day, they are aware that going to work at a nuclear power plant, is a job with risks. The writer of the news story said that they would talk about how they would do whatever they had to do, to protect the rest of the people, outside the plant, their families, and fellow citizens of the world, from nuclear disaster. And that is just what they are doing. It will be a long time before we hear the stories of their heroism. And perhaps they are not all brave. But a lot of them are. They are choosing life for others – even over their own safety. I have NO CLUE if they are Christian, but the value they are living out is a Christian value. We choose life . . . Even if it means death. They are willing to sacrifice, because that is what it takes to save others. That is a Christian value.
This is the mystery of faith, my friends. Jesus was willing to die, so that we could know what it really means to live! This is the key scripture, one you probably memorized in Bible school: 16“For God so loved the world that God gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
But this is not just a promise life eternal life in the life, in heaven. Jesus wants us to experience the fullness of life NOW. Jesus wants us to find light in the darkness of this world NOW. Jesus wants us to live with joy! Eternal life starts TODAY. RIGHT NOW. And this is how we have it. This is how we live fully – with JOY!
When we walk with Jesus every day. When we go the WAY of Jesus, in all that we say and do. When we walk in the light instead of choosing the darkness.
That’s it. It’s SIMPLE. But it’s not EASY.
We have a picture here on our video screen of a rock staircase. Walking with Jesus, on this road to what will end up with a cross, and death for him, is not easy. But it also leads to light and life eternal. So I want to invite you during Lent (the season leading up to Easter) to go along this way with Jesus anyway. Because walking with Jesus in the light, is simply better than sitting alone in the darkness. Over and over again in scripture we find this image, that Jesus is the light, and that we are to follow the light and BE the light for the world.
We are seeing lots of darkness lately, aren’t we? War and destruction, natural disaster, and humanity’s inhumane treatment of one another. This scripture says: “people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. 20For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.” The writer of this passage says that it’s human nature to be evil and to want to hide in the darkness. But I don’t choose to believe that. Because I believe Jesus is light and we are drawn to that light.
Last night my kids and I were longing to see the brightest light we could, in the night sky. I believe people WANT to see goodness. I think people WANT to experience compassion and healing and honesty. We mess it up a lot. We get caught up in the darkness of selfishness, and dishonesty and our own insecurities. But we want to do better.
We want to be people of the light. I believe that. We want to be like those brave people in the nuclear power plant in Japan who are risking their lives to save others. And so Jesus says, “those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”
When we are living in the WAY of Jesus, in the light, we want people to see how we are living. We have nothing to hide. Yes we will make some mistakes, but then we come clean when we follow Jesus. We ask for forgiveness, and then we move on into the light.
Friends the world needs some light right now, we need to be the light for our world right now. And we need to pray for God’s light to break into our world, into situations that are too big for us to comprehend and definitely too big for any of us to tackle on our own from right here in Toledo, OH: airstrikes and nuclear reactors, and governmental crises. We need a power bigger than ourselves in our world – to bring light to all this darkness.
But make no mistake. God has the power. Light always has the power to shine in the darkness, and to overcome the darkness. We are the light of Jesus, now, in the world. That is our job, as followers of Jesus. In whatever little spheres of influence we have, in our homes, our neighborhoods, our schools, our workplaces, at the grocery store in how we interact with people every day. We have the choice to be like Jesus, or not. We can be light for other people in the midst of all this darkness. And when we are light, we will point them, in our own way, to God and to God’s light. And it will be enough light.
For now, let’s pray for our world. Let’s bring a little more light into this world by lighting some candles and saying our own prayers. You can do this at home or where you are now. Take a moment and pray that you can be a source of that light. If you can’t see the light, consider joining us at the Village each Sunday or at one of our small groups. We want to help people who are stuck in the darkness of our lives and this world find the light that is Jesus, God’s love and light in our world.
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