Advent: LIGHT
In 6th grade, I had the amazing privilege to go to our elementary school’s science camp on Catalina Island called Camp Cimi. Each year the 6th graders would take the Catalina flyer to travel across the vast gap (26 miles) of the Pacific Ocean and explore the fun things of Camp Cimi. We would snorkel, pet sharks, grab lobsters, go on night hikes, and many other fun activities.
One of these activities was the legendary night maze. It was a room that Camp Cimi turned into a maze that students went through at night to learn about radar, sonar, and how bats and other nocturnal animals travel in the dark. You could go in groups. You could communicate with others. The only rule was that you could not bring flashlights. The point was to travel in the dark and learn how to do so like our nocturnal animal friends.
But you know me: I hid my flashlight in my sock and climbed on in the maze. I found secret places, I helped people who were stuck and afraid out of the maze, and I was also able to fully enjoy this maze. I shined my light into the dark and was able to travel this maze because I wasn’t built to walk in the dark with no light, I was created to shine the light in the darkness and walk through this maze called life. I was built to find secret places that only can be found through shining the light. I was formed for helping others stuck in the dark by shining a light on their fears and lovingly inviting them to join me in the pathway out of the maze by marvelous light.
In this same way friends, each of us travels this maze of life and some of us think that we must go in the dark. We think that we must move forward by the world’s definitions and restrictions when the Lord is declaring to us through His love and light that there is another way.
Jesus sees us in the dark and comes as the light of the world. He shines His light into our lives to lead us out of the prison of fear, sin, and darkness. He transforms us into being light and empowers us to shine our lives and stories into the lives of others to see that there is hope on the other side of fear and darkness.
The thing about light is that we don’t turn on a light switch to see light, we turn on light to see. The reality is that light illuminates what was dark, hidden, and could not be seen. Light is a source of vision where there was none. Light gives perspective when we couldn’t perceive it. Light permeates darkness until what was obscure is now certain.
When I think about this past year of the darkness in the pandemic and the brokenness of humanity shining through our immense division over politics, race, and a common goal forward, I’ve also witnessed the reality that light has been shining all along. If there wasn’t light shining, we wouldn’t be able to perceive what is happening. If there wasn’t a light piercing through these difficult circumstances, issues, and situations, we wouldn’t be able to see them at all.
We live in a world and time in which there is darkness, but that darkness is being met with a light that not only reveals the darkness but overcomes it. This Light is both Jesus Himself and Jesus in Us. This Light contends with the darkness and pours out the victory in us that gives vision. It is because of this Light that when we are met with death, darkness, and destruction, we are reminded that these very instruments of demise were the exact ways in which Jesus triumphed over them as Light.
In fact, this Light came into the world in a manner that was unexpected. Things didn’t look like others thought. The Messiah didn’t appear as expected, yet it was the beginning of a beautiful story of redemption and hope. This Light illuminated the darkness for us to see beyond our limited perspective of “how it should be” to the eternal perspective of “what can be”.
In this same manner, the Lord has always been inviting us to participate in the goodness of His Light and glory. God created us in His image, redeems and restores us through Jesus in a relationship, fills us with His Spirit, and offers us a connection to live in the Light as He is Light.
I write all of this to say that we don’t have a darkness problem in our world, we have a light issue. And it’s not about whether the Light works, but about whether or not we are plugged into the source Himself.
Beloved, the Light has come into the world and the darkness cannot overcome it. This same Light invites us into FULL connection to be the light of the world with Him. Just like 6th grade Cam, this year has reminded us that life feels like a dark maze in which we can’t bring light, except the reality is that the Light has gone before us and illuminates our path. The Light not only calls us out of the darkness but empowers us in connection with Him to go into darkness and call others into the Light as well.
Beloved, the Light has come into the world and is coming again. Our call is to live plugged into that source and to allow that same Light to illuminate in us and through us. Amen.
Practice: As 2020 comes to a close, I want to encourage you to give yourself a great foundation to begin 2021 with a solid grounding in the Word. Below are five passages that have to do with light. My hope is that you would read them each day and even set a goal to memorize them as a reminder of the truth of the Light that has come and is coming again, and the Light that now lives and illuminates in and through us. This Light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it. Amen.
“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.” Isaiah 9:2
“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you.” Isaiah 60:1-2
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him, nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:1-5
“When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16
