The Growing Edge: The Light Shines in the Darkness

"The Light shines in the darkness but the darkness has not overcome it." John 1:5

I woke up early the other day to go for a run. It's becoming a habit of mine to do this, although I generally loath getting up early (I have always been a night owl). But as I begin running longer routes, I find myself in the odd position of having to be creative with my time. That's tough for me especially since I've never been that creative. So this morning I wake up at 5 am, stumble through our seminary apartment, manage to get dressed and realize that it's completely dark outside. The sun hasn't even thought of breaking over the horizon for at least another hour and a half or so. As I think about the route I've chosen for the day, my second realization is that there are not very many lights on the route. In fact it's through the park which always seems a little darker than the rest of the world because there is virtually no extra help beating back the consuming darkness. With no time to scour the house for a flashlight, I find a small key chain with one of those LED lights attached, you know, the ones you get in your stocking at Christmas and then resides in that drawer in the kitchen with all the other odd items with no real place in the home. Not a big light but it worked. I hoped and prayed that this little light would at least keep me moderately safe from oncoming cars and other runners/bikers who might not be able to see me or keep me from tripping or having a branch slap me in the face So there it was, me and this little key chain light versus the darkness and all the unknown that it holds.

As I ran, this little bit of scripture above came to mind and made me very aware of how the church relates to the world outside its walls. During the course of the run I was aware of certain things

There was a stark line of darkness as left the seminary grounds. You could see where the light ended and the darkness began. While the line of darkness isn't quite as clear in our world as it can be during an early morning run, we need to know that the world is different and train our people to recognize the difference between darkness and light. If we are stumbling around in the darkness thinking we're actually in the light, that's can be very dangerous for all who may be following.

My eyes adjusted to the darkness. I didn't use the light constantly. In fact, my eyes adjusted to the limited amount of light that was available and I got used to it, sort of. I think for those, both inside and outside the church, our "eyes" have a tendency to adjust to the environment around us. What happens when we become so much like the culture around us we don't realize our "eyes" have adjusted to the point where we don't realize we're not shining out light any longer?

I saw things in shadows and didn't know quite what they were. Related to the above point, branches looked more menacing, street signs looked like people and only God knows what was in the woods. The darkness can play tricks with your eyes. It makes you think things are something other than they really are. Maybe for those who have yet to know the love God has offered us in Jesus, there lives are fraught with seeing things only in the shadows of their own darkness. How does the church or followers of Jesus, begin to allow the light of Jesus penetrate the shadows for them to see that what they thought was real is in fact a distortion of reality and there is a much better way to live.

Oncoming car headlights were very bright and overwhelmingly blinding. But be careful. As I ran, an occasional car would pass. The headlights were often blinding and dangerous. When we consider being light to people in the darkness, we must remember that it's dangerous to shine a bright light in the eyes of someone who has been in darkness for a long period of time. We are called be evangelists but how we share Jesus can be more dangerous than not sharing Jesus at all. After all, many Presbyterians have excused themselves from doing Evangelism for that very reason. They seek to do no harm. Neither is tenable. There's a middle ground between doing nothing and being obnoxious and potentially detrimental. For those who have chosen to follow Jesus, telling others about his love, grace and the freedom that accompanies a life with him, doesn't seem to be an option we can decline to do.

There were some lights along the way To my surprise there were some lights along the way and I was guided by them and my light became a part of the collective work to combat the darkness. This is my vision of how the church should work. Collectively we must work to take our light beyond our walls to a commnuity that wanders alone, for the most part, in a very dark world. What a joy it was to see a light up ahead beaming its joy into the dark world in which I was running. It gave me hope, new sight and helped me feel as if I could keep going. In fact, my light was even brighter upon entering the darkness once again.

Thanks be to God for sending the true Light into the darkness of our world!

Comments

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Good stuff.

Posted by: Tom Laney | September 12, 2009 at 09:31 AM

Funny you mention evangelism... I'm a newly elected elder on session and it just so happens my commitee work has been assigned: The Mission/Outreach Unit and Evangelism Committee.

My first goal will be to overcome the dislike I have for the current committee chair. Then looking for my path and ministry with the evangelism team. I did serve over 15 years ago on this very committee, so it should be like riding a bike. Are there any new ways to go about it?

Posted by: Kim Coulter | October 30, 2009 at 02:19 PM