God is Light….
A new year dawns upon us this week, dear friends. For some, much
of it may be the equivalent of walking in or into darkness. For others, it may be
a combination of intense frustration, disappointment, sadness, anger; all at
what we have seen and are experiencing. But we are called to be light bearers. These
days oligarchs might claim to be light bearers! But they are not. What does this
all mean for us?
A few scripture verses will help.
Jesus said I am the light of the
world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the
light of life.
John said that God is light and in
him is no darkness at all; if we say we have fellowship with him while we
walk in darkness we lie, and do not live according to the truth.
Jesus also said you are the light
of the world; let your light so shine before men that they may see your
good works and give glory to God.
And in Ephesians it says walk
as children of light, for the fruit of light is all that is good
and right and true;
therefore it is said, Awake, O sleeper, and arise…..for Christ shall give
you light.
And perhaps the most
significant statement the Lord says: found in Matt 6:22ff
The eye is the lamp of the
body; if your eye is sound your whole body will be full of light!
Remember when the Bible first recounts the creation
narrative, it speaks of darkness, and of God saying Let there be light;
remember that when Moses came down from the mountain after spending time in God’s
presence receiving the Commandments, his face shone; remember that on the road
to Damascus, a light flashed and shone upon Saul, and Jesus spoke to him.
God is Spirit, God is Love, God is Light. All three at one
go! Being, content, form. Not symbolism, as some try to say on the internet (!)
but a scientific and little understood reality. Remember God’s words - not by
might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord. The worldly understanding
of power (the force of one entity over another) is not the same.
God’s will is seen in godly actions. Like the 2 commandments
that Jesus said come before all others. Love God and love your fellow man. But
understanding requires a certain
enlightenment. When Jesus said ‘turn the other cheek’ he was speaking in a
context that assumed a conscience led by a moral sense of right and wrong, of
good vs harm, of guilty vs innocent. This is why, as a historian once pointed
out, as Mahatma Gandhi lay down in peaceful resistance before British mounted troops,
the soldiers would not ride over him; conscience! Or why sisters of the cloth once
stood before corrupt Government troops in the Philippines blocking their path
in peaceful resistance; or how a lone citizen once stood before a tank,
blocking it’s way, in Tian An Men square in China. Troops who would not obey
orders to murder the innocent! When and where moral conscience does not exist,
Jesus’ words cannot be applied. Scripture is not necessarily full of literal
interpretations. Sting, (Gordon Sumner, The Police) once sang ‘I cannot turn the
other cheek, it’s black and blue and torn!’ i.e. I’ve tried it, it didn’t work.
Jesus never said ‘its ok, let others abuse you!’ Let them demean your self-worth,
and treat you cruelly. No. You are no less a creation of the One God
as they are.
Back in the day when Graham Nash (Hollies; Crosby, Stills, Nash
& Young) wrote and sang, ‘rules and regulations who needs them’ he was not singing about establishing disorder
but of doing away with oppressive and demeaning rules and regulations, (Just as
the Pharisees had created!) hence his
‘so your brother’s bound and
gagged, and they’ve chained him to a chair;
won’t you please come to
Chicago, just to sing;
in a land that’s known as
freedom, how can such thing be fair,
won’t you please come to
Chicago, for the help that we can bring;
we can change the world;
rearrange the world; its dying….to get better;
if you believe in justice, if
you believe in freedom …
God is not a God of ritual. Nor of
talk. But of action that brings light into the lives of others.
Frank Herbertm writer of the Dune
trilogy etc saying through Paul Atreides
(Muad Dib) in the 1st Dune movie - ‘Sleeper, awake!’ where’d that line come from?
Sound familiar? Ephesians? Or of Frodo reaching for the vial of light Galadriel
of the Elves had given him - when he is
attacked by Shelob in the giant spider’s lair in JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Where’d
that come from – the Psalm that says ‘God is my light, whom shall I
fear?’ God’s light is everywhere. And is experienced when you walk along the
godly path. And Jesus laid it out and said I am the way. Walk this way….
It correlates to simple deeds of genuine kindness that you
do in your life for others. God knows the difference in what comes from the
heart and what does not. It is not only a matter of a personal relationship
with God but also of a personal relationship that is always lived in the
context of others.
A few aspects then, critical to our sense of the Light of
God reaching into our lives. Remember Matt 6:22 once again that says ‘your eye
is the lamp of the body; if your eye is sound, your whole body will be sound.
But why ‘eye’ (singular) and not ‘eyes’ (plural)? Because Jesus is not just talking
about the physical body but the God given spirit within; and when your
spiritual vision is clear your mind and body are energized. And you will know
it! In brief…
1.God’s Light brings insight and
understanding
This is the light of a keen
sharpness - of sight and considerable ability, to understand a thing clearly
for what it is; no ‘arbiter of the truth’ or ‘leader’ is needed. Such an ability
can tell each and every one of us why a thing is happening, has happened, will
happen; and to have a clear and strong sense of how to respond. Corruption is
not excused. Nor greed. Nor irresponsibility. It is the old honesty of calling
a spade a spade, or a donkey or an elephant. And to accept no evil which is ‘hidden in the darkness’ but to work to bring
it into the light, where it will fester and die, as is said in Eph 5:11.
2.God’s Light brings inner
strength and a ‘lightheartedness’ of spirit
This is the light that energizes both
mind, spirit and body! God’s gifts of love, joy, and peace come upon you; and that
which the world cannot give it cannot take away! Hence, Jesus says, ‘my peace
(my shalom = my wholeness) not as the world gives, give I unto you.’
The world cannot bring you down
because you see it for what it is; and you learn to distance yourself
emotionally, mentally, spiritually from its wickedness; how you respond is
something you must work out with God. What if the Good Samaritan was risking
his life when he decided to help a Jew in Jewish country? Might have been
accused of trying to take advantage of an injured man? Don’t know for sure. But
he decided he would help anyways.
3. God’s light brings confidence
This is the light that gives confidence
and encouragement; from one to another; to help others see, starting with
yourself, if need be, that it is not a question of whether you believe in God,
but rather that God believes in you! It is to say ‘You can do this!’ From Jesus,
and even through Stephen King’s character of Mother Abigail who says this to
Nick in the TV movie The Stand! A combination of empathy, acceptance and support
to help another take the next step in their journey. This is not ‘mentoring’
i.e. a -superior-inferior- shared ‘let me show you’ relationship; it is
believing in the other’s ability to surpass! Encouragement is an essential key
to the human condition. It is contextual, relational, social; hence the old
Wesleyan notion of pastoral visiting and my visiting from house to house 3
times a week! Encouragement = strength = an ability to move forward. Teachers
are meant to be encouragers!
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