Light in the midst of our Darkness John 1: 1-18 Have you ever experienced times when you were in a dark place where there was no light? You might remember when you were out in the woods on a cloudy night when there were no stars or moon, when it was "pitch black", when there was no light from anywhere. Your eyes were wide open but you were not able to see a thing. There is a story of a father and young son, maybe two or three years old, going out on a camping trip together and sleeping in a tent on a dark night. When the lights were put out in the tent the little boy said, "It sure is dark". In a couple of minutes the father felt the little boys hand in his, and the little boy said to his dad, "I'll hold your hand Dad in case you get scared" Have you ever been scared in the dark?  You might think of how many bad things happen in the dark. Nighttime is full of terror. To step out into the darkness is to step out into danger. Everyday in the newspapers we read of how many people are being robbed, mugged, and raped in the dark of the night. It is a time when crime stalks about. It is a time when fear reigns. It is a time when no one goes out without good reason. Darkness becomes a wall that separates neighbor from neighbor, friends from friends, and we only dare to pierce the darkness with our cars which we use like tanks. Have you ever been afraid that the light will never come? According to a study that I read recently, in an average congregation on a Sunday morning about one fifth of the people will be feeling darkness because of bereavement; one third will be facing the darkness of divorce or marital difficulties, a half will be facing dark times of adjusting to school, home, job, or community. A number of people will be facing the darkness of guilt. Still others will be facing an addiction to alcohol and /or other drugs.  I suspect that the same is true of any congregation at any time. I dare say that is would be true of this congregation. Everyone is in some kind of darkness right here, right now. In the art course that I took this fall we did a lot of work on using the contrast between darkness and light to show what was important in the painting. The dark background in a painting often highlights the light object in the foreground, makes it look even brighter and brings out the important aspects of the object that you want to see. The contrast between darkness and light can also affect the way that we look at life. It is only when we encounter that darkness, that we can even comprehend and experience the wonderful thing that light is, especially when it appears in the person of Jesus Christ, who is called the light of the world. Because of Christ we know light and we also know that the darkness, no matter how dark it is, can never overcome that light. We expereince the light of Jesus' life more intensely because of the darkeness that surrounds him. That is why the words in the Gospel today are so important.  We are told that John (the Baptist) came into the world testifying to the Light which we see in Christ.  It is the light that is available to all people. It resides in all people.  It resides in us. Light is available to us. All we have to do is look for it or wait for it.  We are likely to find it in most unexpected ways.  It might come as we are reading the words of scripture.  In might come in an insight gained from another writer.  It might come in the midst of an experience in which we are overwhelmed by the presence of God. It can come through countless other ways.  But we can be assured by the Gospel that the light has come into the world and no matter what kind of darkness we are experiencing, we will encounter the light at some time and in some place. * One of the ways it most often is experienced in my life is through other people. I appreciate the work of Garrison Keillor and his stories from Lake Wobegan. He has one about New Years in which he tells of trying to stay awake for midnight on New Years Eve when he was about 11 or 12 years old. He would fall asleep before the magic midnight hour. It took him about three years before he made it over the hump. He remembers listening to the radio broadcasting New Years Eve from Time Square in New York City. He would imagine what it was like. Guy Lombardo with his Royal Canadians, all with red mountie uniforms, playing their instruments while riding horses. They didn't have TV but he thought how fabulous it would be to see this on TV, to see how it really was. Of course eventually they got a TV and it wasn't nearly the same as what he had imagined. It wasn't so fabulous. He goes on to talk about how all the things that he thought would be wonderful when he was 12 years old, turned out not to be so wonderful after he had them later in life.  You see when we were twelve they were all beyond our power to make them happen, and that's what made them so wonderful. Most of those dreams came true. He got to drive his father's car.  He got out of school and didn't have to go to classes anymore. He moved to a big city with a wonderful library, and he got his own library card so could take out any books he wanted. All things that he thought would be so satisfying turned out to be not so satisfying when he finally got them. What was satisfying? What was so fabulous had all to do with people. It had to do with love, friendship, and affection. That is what is really important. Sometimes, it is something very simple. He tells of seeing a young boy one cold winter day in Minnesota stepping out on the steps of his home doing up zipper of his jacket, just standing there for a moment and taking deep breath of the cold air, being excited by the air. You could see that the cold air just raced through this kid. All his nerve endings just sort of lit up, and his engines were fired up and he was off the porch in two leaps, picked up a handful of snow and threw a perfect strike at a stop sign - hit it right in the "0". Then he was off down the street and out of sight. It was impressive to see somebody get out of the starting gate like that. Most of us are too old to be excited by the air we breath, and even if we were, our engines wouldn t start up like that necessarily. But we can still get excited by people. You are never too old to be pumped up by people, having them around, the sound of talk, and the touch of people, and that is some of the main pleasures of life no matter how old you are and where you live. (From the tape News From Lake Wobegon  -Winter, original monologues by Garrison Keillor, Minnesota Public Radio 1983) * It is through other people that we catch a glimpse of that light of Christ which enlightens people. I have met it when ministering to other people.  Often I go to minister to another person and come away with the knowledge that I have been ministered to. I remember one older lady who I used to visit regularly.  I liked being with her because she was a person through whom the light shone.  She knew the light and that light had guided her through many trials and tribulations during her life. When she faced the darkness of death, she almost welcomed it. When her friend died before her, she said" I wish the Lord would open the door a little wider so that I could get through." Death is unknown and the unknown is always scary so you could think of it as darkness. She knew that if she could put her hand in the hand of God he would be a light unto her path. That's why the psalmist could say in psalm 139, "Even the darkness is not darkness to you, the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you." (vs l2). This scripture today should give us the confidence that no matter how we experience darkness in our lives, if we step out and walk with Christ as our leader, and with others who are in light, if we walk hand in hand, the darkness will turn into light. Look for the light.  It is all around us and especially in the people we meet each day.  It is within us. It is that spark of the devine that is within everyone.  John reminds us today  of "the true light, which enlightens everyone coming into the world." (John 1:9).  Becoming aware of that light within or light that shines in the world, doesn't remove the darkness. It doesn't change what we experience, but it does change the way we look at the world around us. It changes the way we look at our life and our experience. If you ask a child what light is.  They will probably answer "light is what you see things with". When we become aware of the light in our lives and in the lives of others, we will begin to see things differently. We become more conscious of that which lies beneath the surface of life, more alive, more true to your real self, and more connected with those we share life with on this planet. Look for that light! STORIES AND QUOTES Around this time of year the Jews celebrate Hanukkah that  lasts for eight days. There is a tradition mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud that when the Temple was rededicated  165 BCE after it had been profaned by the Hellenistic Emperor Antiochus IV there was just one day's worth of pure oil left that was needed to keep the Temple menorah burning but a great miracle happened: It lasted for eight days.  So, during Hanukkah Jews light candles in their hanukkiot (Hanukkah menorahs) to symbolize the miracle. On the first night of Hanukkah, one candle is placed in the menorah. On each successive night, another candle is added. By the last night of Hanukkah, eight candles are glowing brightly in celebration of this beautiful festival. Rabbi Brad Hirschfield was asked in Beliefnet last year about the meaning of Hanukkah.  He had this to say For Jews living under foreign domination, whether under the Romans or the Parthians, with limited resources and a variety of other spiritual, political, and communal challenges, it was a powerful affirmation of their sense that great things could still happen, that they were not cast out by God, and that they were still worthy of miracles, no matter how lousy life may have seemed to them. Of course there are as many explanations for the meaning of this practice as there are people willing to offer an interpretation, which is one of the reasons that the practice has lasted as long as it has.... ...Actually, Hannukah is pretty simple: at the coldest, darkest, deadest, and often most hopeless time of the year, the Jewish people celebrate that light, heat, warmth and life are still possible. We celebrate that even from the smallest containers, the greatest miracles are born. If all this sounds strikingly like the message of the Christmas tree or the story of a little baby born in a manger, all the better. It's a message we all need and all deserve.   Posted in Beliefnet by Rabbi Brad Hirschfield December 8, 2008 http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Judaism/index.aspx So, this celebration is often called the "miracle of light".  It is a time of rejoicing that God provided light in the midst of the darkness of that time.  It is also a time to look for light in the midst of our own darkness. It is not merely coincidental that Jesus' first resurrection appearances recorded in John's Gospel took place while it was dark. Mary Magdalene came to the tomb on that first Easter morning 'while it was still dark'. It was the evening of the same day that the disciples had gathered behind locked doors 'for fear of the Jews', that Jesus stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you'. It was after a dark night of catching no fish that the disciples saw Jesus just as the dawn was beginning to break. Some say that the hour before dawn is the darkest. I am certain that these stories are told in this way because they present to us the way the light of Christ rises upon us at this present time - in our darkest moments. I have found that in my life when I have been willing to face the darkness and my helplessness and fear in the face of a situation that I cannot change I experience a light rising upon me. At that moment I have realized that I cannot obtain peace, joy, hope and love by striving to achieve them. I cannot obtain them by my cunning or the force of my will. I will not achieve them by fighting hard enough for them. The more I strive the more I am stressed out. But I can receive them as a gift. When I give myself over to the love of God and allow the Spirit of Christ to connect with my spirit, I receive that great gift - the power to choose peace, joy, hope and love over anything that works against them. So I can come out of the darkness seeing things differently. In one sense nothing is changed. In another sense everything has changed. Alex Thomas Epiphany 2002 (from Archives) ...God sends us a memorandum stating that 'You are the Greatest Miracle in the World'. Have you ever thought of your life that way? God has given you the power to think, to love, to will, to laugh, to imagine, to create, to plan, to speak, to pray and to heal. There is no greater miracle than that. You are capable of great wonders. Your potential is unlimited. Who else among all of God's creatures has mastered fire, conquered gravity, pierced the heavens and conquered disease, pestilence and drought? And one of the ways that you can be spiritually reborn and claim this miracle is in realizing that you have the power to choose. God says in this memorandum that you can: Choose to love...rather than hate Choose to laugh...rather than cry. Choose to create ...rather than destroy Choose to persevere...rather than quit Choose to praise..rather than gossip Choose to heal...rather than wound Choose to give...rather than steal Choose to act ...rather than procrastinate Choose to grow..rather than rot Choose to pray...rather than curse Choose to live...rather than die Og Mandino The God Memorandum Frederick Fell Publishers, Holywood, Florida, 2001 A few years ago I was out with a group of young adults at a camp out in the country. Our late evening session was to go out together in the dark, into the woods, on an unfamiliar trail. One person, the leader, had been on the trail before. He was the only one with a flashlight. It was quite scary, we didn t know where we were, but we finally ended up in the light of the main building. We sat around and talked about the experience. We talked about how important it was to trust the leader, and how important it was to hold hands with one another, forming a chain, as we went along the path, listening to the messages from the one ahead of you, "there is a low branch here", "there is a fallen tree there" and so on. We needed one another. We were the light to one another. Alex Thomas from a funeral sermon 1996 ..... we were at work in a trench. The dawn was gray around us; gray was the sky above; gray the snow in the pale light of dawn; gray the rags in which my fellow prisoners were clad, and gray their faces . . . . I was struggling to find the reason for my sufferings, my slow dying. In a last violent protest against the hopelessness of imminent death, I sensed my spirit piercing through the enveloping gloom. I felt it transcend that hopeless, meaningless world, and from somewhere I heard a victorious "Yes" in answer to my question of the existence of an ultimate purpose. At that moment a light was lit in a distant farmhouse, which stood on the horizon as if painted there, in the midst of the miserable  gray of a dawning morning in Bavaria. "Et lux in tenebris lucet" — and the light shineth in the darkness.         —Viktor Frankl, psychiatrist  Man's Search For Meaning "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light." In one respect if in no other, this metaphor of Isaiah's is a very relevant one for us and our age because we are also, God knows, a people who walk in darkness. There seems little need to explain. If darkness is meant to suggest a world where nobody can see very well—either themselves, or each other, or where they are heading, or even where they are standing at the moment; if darkness is meant to convey a sense of uncertainty, of being lost, of being afraid; if darkness suggests conflict, conflict between races, between nations between individuals each pretty much out for himself when you come right down to it; then we live in a world that knows much about darkness. Darkness is what our newspapers are about. Darkness is what most of our best contemporary literature is about. Darkness fills the skies over our own cities no less than over the cities of our enemies. And in our single lives, we know much about darkness too. If we are people who pray, darkness is apt to be a lot of what our prayers are about. If we are people who do not pray, it is apt to be darkness in one form or another that has stopped our mouths. Frederick Buechner Listening To Your Life Harper San Francisco 1992 p.266 Do you remember the TV program Northern Exposure which was popular a few years ago? The setting for the story was in a community called Cicily, Alaska.  There was one episode which centred around the problem that some people have in dealing with the long winter nights in the North when there is only a few minutes of light each day.  One character in the story, Holling, who ran a restaurant and bar in town practically hibernated for a number of weeks leaving his partner Shelly to single handedly run the business.  The Doctor in town, Joel, looked forward to a vacation in the south during this time and when it was refused by State officials because there was no one to take his place became irate and refused to practice. For some people the darkness led to depression.  Others relished the few moments of light each day and ran out to enjoy it.  They rejoiced in the fact that there would be a little more light each day to enjoy. Chris, the radio announcer in town spent his days working on a project and had a soul brother look after the radio station.  You never knew quite what Chris was doing except that he was putting together a structure of some kind by hammering and welding pieces of metal together. He is frustrated because it isn't coming together like other years As the show progresses in the midst of darkness, people make changes in their lives.  Holling comes out of his deep sleep as if experiencing some kind of resurrection. He proceeds to eat a big meal and experiences a renewal of life.  Joel comes to grips with his medical practice again, and even thought a lot of people had been upset by his withdrawal of services, all is forgiven and a new relationship develops again. Attitudes change.  Depression lessens.  People become more compassionate to one another.  Chris finally gets his project together, and is ready to display it to the whole community.  Everyone gathers on the main street in the darkness.  Chris flicks a switch and suddenly there is a great light which penetrates the darkness in every direction. He had gathered every light bulb imaginable, every light fixture that could be put together, with cords and cables and produced this amazing display of light that seem to lighten their whole world. As the TV Cameras move away further and further from the scene, you are left with the image of this great light in the midst of darkness. Chris's project was symbolic of the light that all humanity seeks in the midst of their darkness and the completion of the project coincided with the other people in the community discovering light in the midst of darkness. It was another example of  "the people who walk in darkness have seen a great light." You are visitor number UK Online Casinos This free counter  is supplied by Visible Counter   Connect with Deacon Sils Homelical resource Also for more sermon and lectionary resources connect to SERMON AND SERMON LECTIONARY RESOURCES   Check Out my daughter's web site CARLY'S STRENGTH designed for helping you build spiritual, mental and physical strength.