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Advent 3, December 11, 2005 |
SENT TO TELL ABOUT THE LIGHT Lots of light but. As I began to think about this message, the shadows of the not-so-late afternoon are cutting down on the warmth and the strength of the sun. We would like to think that the lights of trees, outdoor displays would do away with the darkness that surrounds us. It seems for a while to cause us to want to be helpful to the needy, the present-less, the homeless. More than coins hit the kettles of the Salvation Army collection tripods. Yet we know that next year the same problems, well, you don't have to wait until next year at Christmas, by January the old, the homeless, the hungry, the needy, the present-less will still be there. The many lights do not make us any more cheerful as we struggle to be nice to the family members we really don't like or agree with, as we try to balance gift giving with credit card paying, as we want to provide warm homes and the tax bills need to be paid before the credit card bills arrive. If we put on more lights at this time of year to cheer us and get us in the proper spirit to empty our wallets and max our credit cards (if not there already!), is there really any point to it all? After all, all too soon we'll be storing them all away. Is there perhaps a light that really can take away permanently, I think we would like it to be permanently, permanently gloom, the sadness, the clouds that surrounds our lives that never seems to end? There was periodic droughts which produced killing famines. There was the aggressively heavy hand of the Romans which brought peace by killing every terrorist insurgent which dared to challenge its power and taxation. There was the lack of any leadership in the land, particularly spiritual leadership. That drought had gone on for over 4 centuries. A dark malaise, a spirit deadening routine of worship which left you drier after all that trotting to the temple in Jerusalem than before you went. He wasn't found in the seat of religious power, in Jerusalem. He wasn't in Rome, our Washington, D. C. where all "wisdom" is provided to the rest of human beings. He was in Bethany beyond the Jordan River. He wasn't there to create a new sect of Judaism. He didn't last very long. He was gone, executed actually by the civil authority (we'd call it capital punishment today), by around 30 years of age. His Defining Moment Well, who are you, you claim to be sent by God, and we've been sent by our bosses to figure out who you are, so tell us. John tells them and us, using the words of the Prophet Isaiah of many centuries earlier. He is a voice, shouting in this arid, spiritual waterless, a dark as night place of your hearts and lives. He is shouting get ready for God is arriving soon! Make it easy for God who is coming right after me. The God he was speaking about is Jesus. The promised King, the Spokesman Prophet for God and to God for us, the Light which would forever, and I mean forever, make sun, moon, stars, candles, electric lights, and all sources of illumination obsolete. He is the Light that casts no shadow; the Light which exposes all we are; the Light which evaporates all the ways we try to cover our shame, our sin, our indiscretions, the Light which burned most brightly in the eclipse of all other light on a Friday afternoon; the Light which purifies and sanitizes our stench and its cause-the death we live as we live in the darkness of sin, death, and its consequences. Jesus is the Light which finally invades every, and I mean every sarcophagus, every mausoleum, every graveyard, every place of death and bring immortality to light for all those who love this Light and his appearing again. The Coming Light Get the baking done! The presents wrapped! The decorating finished! Our Defining Moment He says that to every one of you. Every one! Too young? Out of the mouths of babes! Too old? Your old men shall dream dreams! Wrong sex? No glass ceiling or any other obstruction. Not very smart? The wisdom of the Light begins where the wisdom of men has reached its zenith. Too poor? You all are just looking at bank accounts, not at the treasure of heaven which is yours for sure. What's this Light said to everyone? "As the heavenly Father sent me, so I send you." Sent by God. Sent as John was sent. Sent to tell of the Light. Sent to tell of this same Jesus, John was witness to. You, yes, you, and me also are sent by God. The Light Defines Fellowship A casual attitude toward the gathering of the saints denies the mission The Light Defines Our Purpose We are today surrounded by attitudes which are hostile to our light. We are perhaps even slighted because we put witness to the Light above the pursuits that this world holds as ultimate. Even the Light himself said, that thieves break in and steal and moth and rust corrupts even the shiniest ornaments in our lives. They quickly dim and lose their luster when problems in our relationships develop. They fade into rotten cloth when sickness pales our own or the face of a loved one. The Necessity of Our Witness to the Light Unless we, the people sent by God give witness to the Light, the gloom of war, the darkness created by pandemics and the failure of even the latest drugs to cure, the inability of people to face the darkness in their lives will continue to grow. "This Little Gospel Light of Mine" But we are sent. Sent by God. Sent by God to give witness to the Light. We may not know how we got to be so important or why "I" am important. The Light is among us! The Light has come! The Light will come again! It's powerful in its persuasion. It is the driving force in life. It gives us mission, and purpose. Yes, we are sent to tell about the Light! Amen. Walter W. Harms, retired pastor |
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