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Celebrating the freeing, supportive presence of God.  So your experience of God may become your experience of life.  It is wonderful what God can do!

May 29, 2005

THE LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS

I WAS CONSIDERING WHAT TO SAY TODAY, A DAY WHEN WE REMEMBER LOVED ONES WHO HAVE PASSED AWAY AND A DAY WHEN WE REMEMBER VETERANS WHO DIED IN THE LINE OF DUTY AS WELL AS OTHER VETERANS WHO HAVE DIED. WE ARE ALSO HONORING ALL VETERANS INCLUDING THOSE ON ACTIVE DUTY.

WITH THAT IN MIND, I WAS TRYING TO DISCERN WHAT A COMMON THEME COULD BE. THEN THE THOUGHT OF THIS MORNINGS SCRIPTURE CAME TO MIND, A SCRIPTURE THAT LIFTS UP THE THOUGHT OF LIGHT.

"IN HIM WAS LIFE, AND THE LIFE WAS THE LIGHT OF ALL PEOPLE. THE LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS AND THE DARKNESS DID NOT OVERCOME IT."

THINKING THEN OF THOSE WHO HAVE PASSED AWAY, FAMILY MEMBERS AND VETERANS, AS WELL AS HONORING VETERANS, HAVE THEY NOT BROUGHT LIGHT INTO OUR LIVES?

JIM SANFORD, DANNY NICHOLS, EVERT DAVIS, SONNY YENCER, BETTY MANN, REV. BARB FINCH AND MARION FINCH, MIKE EMKE, LEON PRATT, PAT BROTHERTON, JANE ROBERTS, DOUG SEEBER SR., DID THEY NOT BRING LIGHT INTO THE LIVES OF THEIR FAMILIES, FRIENDS AND COMMUNITY?

VETERANS WHO HAVE PASSED AWAY IN THE LINE OF DUTY AND SINCE THEN, LIVING VETERANS, THOSE TOO ON ACTIVE DUTY, HAVE THEY NOT ALSO BROUGHT LIGHT NOT ONLY TO THEIR FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES BUT TO THE WORLD AS WELL.

THEN, AS REFERENCED IN TODAY'S SCRIPTURE, THERE IS THE LIGHT THAT GOD BRINGS.

MAY GOD'S LIGHT AND THE LIGHT THAT SHINES THROUGH HIS SON JESUS CONTINUE TO LEND PERPETUAL LIGHT ON THOSE WHO HAVE GONE BEFORE AS WELL AS ON THE PATHS OF OUR LIVES.

 

YET, THE GOSPEL WRITER JOHN NOT ONLY REFERS TO LIGHT BUT HE ALSO REFERS TO DARKNESS.

I KNOW WHEN I WAS FACING THE DEATH OF MY OWN MOTHER, WHO DIED AT A RELATIVELY YOUNG AGE, THAT DARKNESS SEEMED TO OVERTAKE OUR FAMILY, ESPECIALLY AS THE NEWS OF HER CONDITION AS IT RELATED TO CANCER CONTINUED TO GET WORSE.

SO TOO, I KNOW THAT THOSE WHO HAVE LOST LOVED ONES WHOM WE REMEMBER TODAY ALSO EXPERIENCE DARKNESS, A TIME OF GRIEF IN YOUR LIVES.

I CAN ONLY IMAGINE THE MANY FORMS OF DARKNESS THAT VETERANS HAVE EXPERIENCED. FOR A TIME OF WAR BRINGS ABOUT MANY FORMS OF DARKNESS, PERSONAL HARDSHIPS AS WELL AS THE BATTLES THEMSELVES.

AND AT TIMES IS SEEMS AS IF THE DARKNESS OVERCOMES EVERYTHING ELSE, THE DARKNESS OF GRIEF, THE LOSS, THE BATTLES THEMSELVES OR EVEN THE ANTICIPATION OF BATTLE. UNDERSTANDABLY, IT CAN SEEM THAT THERE IS NO LIGHT, ONLY NIGHT.

BUT, JOHN, THE GOSPEL WRITER, CONTINUES ON WITH HIS MESSAGE, WORDS NOT JUST FROM HIS OWN HAND, BUT WORDS INSPIRED BY GOD, WORDS THAT I HAVE COME TO TREASURE.

"THE LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS AND THE DARKNESS HAS NOT OVERCOME IT."

"THE LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS AND THE DARKNESS HAS NOT OVERCOME IT."

WHEN MY MOTHER WAS DYING OF CANCER, SHE WAS IN A HOSPITAL IN NEW JERSEY NEAR WHERE MY DAD AND SHE HAD LIVED.

OF COURSE, OUR WHOLE FAMILY REMEMBERS FACING THE BLACKNESS OF THAT TIME. AND BESIDES FEELING A TERRIBLE POTENTIAL LOSS IN OUR LIVES, OUR TRAVEL WEATHER TO NEW JERSEY WAS BAD AS WELL. FOR WHILE DRIVING TO VISIT MY MOTHER, WE ENDURED ONE THUNDERSTORM AFTER ANOTHER. THE DARKENED CLOUDS PRODUCED NOT ONLY THE RUMBLING AND CRACKLES OF THUNDER BUT THE RUSH OF SUDDEN DOWNPOURS AS WELL. THE THUNDERSTORMS SEEMED TO SEAL THE DARKNESS WE FELT IN OUR SOULS THAT DAY.

BUT THEN SOMETHING REALLY AMAZING HAPPENED. WHILE THERE WERE THE THUNDERSTORMS, THERE WAS ALSO SOMETHING ELSE. AS WE WERE DRIVING, THE SKIES WOULD BEGIN TO CLEAR AND THEN GUESS WHAT WE SAW? FIRST, ONE RAINBOW APPEARED AS WE DROVE ALONG. THEN WE WOULD ENTER ANOTHER DARK TIME OF RAIN, CLEARING, THEN ANOTHER RAINBOW.

BETWEEN HERE AND NEW JERSEY, AMID THE STORMS, WE SIGHTED ABOUT SEVEN RAINBOWS.

AFTER ABOUT THE FOURTH RAINBOW, I WAS FINALLY WISE ENOUGH TO TAKE IT AS A SIGN.

"THE LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS AND THE DARKNESS HAS NOT OVERCOME IT.

EVEN THOUGH WE WERE GOING THROUGH WHAT WAS FOR US THE DARKNESS TIME, I WAS REMINDED THROUGH THE RAINBOWS THAT GOD'S LIGHT WAS STILL SHINING AND LIGHTING OUR ROAD AHEAD.

I HOPE AND PRAY THAT DURING YOUR DARK TIME, THAT YOU TOO HAVE EXPERIENCE LIGHT.

PERHAPS IT HAS BEEN LIGHT FROM THE MEANING OF THE LIFE OF YOUR LOVED ONE. PERHAPS IT HAS LIGHT FROM THE SUPPORT OF FAMILY AND FRIENDS. PERHAPS YOU EXPERIENCED GOD'S COMFORT AND STRENGTH IN A WAY PERSONAL TO YOU.

ONE THING I KNOW FOR SURE, AS GOD SENT THE LIGHT OF CHRIST, GOD WILL SEND YOU LIGHT TO HELP GUIDE YOU THROUGH YOUR TIME OF LOSS, AS WELL AS INTO THE FUTURE AHEAD, TO HELP YOU OVERCOME ANY DARKNESS.

 

SO, OUR INVITATION FROM GOD FOR TODAY, CHRIST'S MESSAGE TO YOU TODAY?

AS YOU EXPERIENCE MOMENTS OF DARKNESS IN YOUR GRIEF, REMEMBER THAT GOD IS SEEKING TO HELP YOU FIND LIGHT, A LIGHT GREATER THAN THE DARKNESS.

SO, THOUGH YOU MAY BE EXPERIENING DARKNESS, LOOK FOR THE LIGHT THAT GOD IS SENDING AND SEEK TO FOLLOW THAT.

FOR OUR CLOSING THOUGHT, ELEANOR KREUTTER HELPED ME FIND A SONG. IT IS ENTITLED, "YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE." ELEANOR SAID IT WAS FIRST SUNG IN ROGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN'S MUSICAL "CAROUSEL" AS A LOVE SONG. AND I SAID TO ELEANOR, WHAT IF WE THINK OF IT AS A SPIRITUAL LOVE SONG FROM GOD, FROM CHRIST TO ANYONE IN THEIR TIME OF GRIEF.

SO FROM GOD, FROM CHRIST TO YOU, AND TO ANYONE WALKING THROUGH A STORM AT THIS TIME, THESE WORDS,

"WHEN YOU WALK THROUGH A STORM HOLD YOUR HEAD UP HIGH AND DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK. AT THE END OF THE STORM IS A GOLDEN SKY AND THE SWEET SILVER SONG OF A LARK. WALK ON THROUGH THE WIND, WALK ON THROUGH THE RAIN, THO' YOUR DREAMS BE TOSSED AND BLOWN. WALK ON, WALK ON, WITH HOPE IN YOUR HEART AND YOU'LL NEVER WALK WALK ALONE, YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE!"

 

LET US PRAY.
DEAR GOD,
THANK YOU THAT YOU CREATED AND CONTINUE TO SEND LIGHT. THANK YOU THAT YOU WALK WITH US THROUGH OUR VALLEYS. FOR WE HEAR AGAIN THE WORDS OF THE 23RD PSALM, "EVEN THOUGH I WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH, I FEAR NO EVIL, THY ROD AND THY STAFF THEY COMFORT ME."
YET, HELP US TO CONTINUE TO FOLLOW THE LIGHT, THE LIGHT OF A NEW DAY THAT YOU CAN BRING TO EACH ONE OF OUR LIVES AND THE WORLDS.

FOR WITH THE LIGHT OF CHRIST AND THE HOLY SPIRIT, WE PRAY, AMEN

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