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by Reverend Dr. John T. Martin, Jr.
Ephesians 5: 8-14 There is no ambiguity in today’s scripture from Ephesians. The writer declares, “For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light – for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true.” “You are light!” What a wonderful expression of what happens to us when we accept Christ as Savior. We take on the light, the luminescence of Christ, in our inmost being and begin walking the upward way that brings enlightenment into every facet of our lives. One of the ways Jesus described himself to his followers was in terms of light. He said, “I am the light of the world. (The one) who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12) Jesus brought the light of God into every situation, metaphorically overcoming shadows, taking away the night. Light is of the very essence of God’s being and presence. At the dawn of creation “God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.” (Genesis 1:3-4) God created the first day and from that time God’s work has been manifested in the bringing of light. It is interesting that well after Lyndon Baines Johnson had risen to prominence as President of the United States, the people from the state of Texas, living near where he grew up in the central hill country along the Pedernales River, remembered him not because he was President, but because of his efforts to bring electricity to their area. When asked about the significance of President Johnson’s career, they said, “He brought the light!” The quality of their lives suddenly took on a new dimension when electrical power finally reached them. In somewhat similar manner, the light of Christ takes life into a totally new dimension. The Old Testament Prophet Isaiah said, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” It was a brilliant light shining in the night sky over Bethlehem, that marked the birth of Christ on earth, and never has the light of his love ceased to shine, except for one brief moment on a Friday when the sky turned black. When Jesus died on the cross everything went dark for a while, but then on Easter the light came bursting forth again in a glorious resurrection. God’s light cannot be contained nor extinguished, though many have tried. I have just been reading James Michener’s book, Caribbean, which tells the history of that area from over fifteen hundred years ago to the present. It is the story of native civilizations like the Arawak, Carib, and the Mayans, and then later of great foreign powers struggling for control, like England, France, and Spain; and then, of course, there were the many pirates of every stripe wantonly stealing shipments of gold and silver, and whatever else they could lay their hands on by the power of the sword, cannons, and treachery of every kind. Add to this the introduction of African slavery to support the sugar plantations throughout the islands and you see human degradation and depravity run wild. It is an incredible story of what humans are capable of doing – in the name of civilization - and the way they justify their actions by appeal to country, religion, and diverse economic interests. Racism ran rampant, to the degree that those enslaved were declared to have no souls and were regarded as less than human. For all the brightness and beauty of the Caribbean as we know it today, there is a history of human exploitation, the effects of which are felt profoundly to this day. Throughout history we find many examples of man’s inhumanity to man, but throughout history God has been working, bringing light into the darkness, showing a better way. Similar histories have taken place on other continents, not least of which is Africa, the ancestral home to virtually every slave carried to the new world in British, French, Dutch, and Spanish ships. Thank God, there have always been those who have spoken against these abuses and in due time, by physical struggle, prayer, and by law the situation changed. When people live courageously to prevent the evil works that occur in darkness, they become a beacon of hope. Recently the movie Hotel Rwanda has drawn much critical acclaim. We resisted seeing it for a while because we knew it contained a lot of violence. We don’t like to see violence, but at times it is unavoidable, and we hoped that the PG13 rating would at least shield our sensibilities from gratuitous violence as we sought to understand the tragedy it portrays. This film tells the true story that occurred ten years ago of a hotel manager, Paul Rusesabagina (played by Don Cheadle), and his family who are caught in the terrible strife that arose between two African tribal peoples, the Hutus and the Tutsis. In this clash one group is trying to annihilate the other and they do so in horrible fashion, often using machetes. The hotel becomes a protective sanctuary for a time. Refugees from the violence crowd into the hotel compound seeking protection. The manager does all he can to help them, giving food and shelter, and tries to reason with opposing factions. After a time it becomes impossible to shield them further. His own life is in danger and his family is at tremendous risk. At one point it looks like they all will die. He and his beloved wife comfort one another. He instructs her on what to do should the enemy breach the walls of the compound. There is one humorous moment when he confesses to his wife the way in which he finagled things to bring her into the region where he lived, so he could court her. She asks how he accomplished it, and he says he had to essentially bribe someone by giving that person a car. His wife is impressed that he would be so generous and asks, what kind of car he gave. Somewhat sheepishly he answers, “a Volkswagon”. She laughs and asks, “Was it a new one?” He doesn’t answer, but you get the idea that it probably wasn’t. This is a wonderful moment of love, a moment of light, in the midst of a dark, dark story of human tragedy. You catch a glimpse of life as it is meant to be, life at its most precarious, truly, but life in all its goodness. We later learn that this courageous hotel manager, by strength of will and undaunted courage, risks everything that is within him and eventually succeeds in saving over 1200 people, men, women, and children, from certain death. He story is reminiscent of Schindler’s List, the story of one man who shined with the light of grace, risking all to save hundreds of Jews from Hitler’s genocide. Many will remember former President Bush speaking of “a thousand points of light” in this country, people who have made a difference for us all by the way they lived. In virtually all cases these are people who lived not for themselves, but for others. Most are people whose names we do not know, but we know what they are like. These are the people who care about what happens to their neighbors; who care whether a cause is just; who care when people suffer; and they do something about it. They don’t sit still for injustice; they don’t tolerate treachery; they don’t laugh at racism; they stand against evil in all its forms. They speak the truth, and often do so in love. The other day I drove by a church in Springfield and saw a sermon title on the signboard out front which read, “What Happens in Vegas Still Comes Home to Me”. They used to advertise Las Vegas as a family destination, but recently we are seeing all seen those naughty little advertisements from Las Vegas saying, “What happens here stays here.” I would have liked to hear the sermon at that church on Sunday because it surely told the truth about what can happen when you decide to walk in darkness rather than light. It will come home to roost in one way or another. It always does. We live in a world that seems to love darkness. But God has a plan. God knows the attraction that we have for dark places, our love for “The Music of the Night” to borrow a song title from Webber’s Phantom of the Opera. John’s gospel reveals the wonderful truth, “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” A bit further into the text he says, “And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But 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.” (John 3; 17, 19-21) One of the huge frustrations in the war against terror is that the enemy is essentially a coward. The enemy the world faces works from the shadows; their treachery is planned in the night. Their faces are hidden. The strength of the free world is our exposure, our willingness to live openly, freely, to debate the issues of our time and vote our conscience. Built into democratic systems is the idea that everyone counts, the every vote is to be respected, that every life is sacred. Totalitarian regimes respect no one but themselves. It has taken a lot of centuries and a lot of blood to reach the place in civilization where reasonable people know that all “are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” These values are enlightened values. They come from God, and God is counting on enlightened believers to “walk in the light as He is in the light and to have fellowship one with another.” One of the most empowering sayings Jesus gave his disciples were the words, “You are the light of the world. Let your light so shine before (others), that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14a, 16) The light of God could be seen in Jesus, and this very same light Jesus gave to all who believe. Our life is to be light-bearers. At times we will be asked to walk in some shadowy places, but we do not go there to engage in the deeds of darkness. Our only purpose is to shine the light of love to expose the poverty of those deeds and to show a better way. Let the righteous shine forth and know that the light is but a reflection of God’s glory. As the hymnist says, “Christ is the world’s light, Christ and none other, born in our darkness, he became our brother. If we have seen him, we have seen the Father: Glory to God on high.” (UMH, 188, Fred Pratt Green, 1968)
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