A light at the end of the tunnel. (Isaiah 9:1-4)

Can you remember back to when you were a child? Can you remember a time when you were alone, and in the dark? Can you remember how you felt? Were you afraid, or worried, or even on the verge of panic?

Can you remember a time you were outside in the pitch black of night wishing there was a light so that you could see where you were. So that you might be able to navigate around, knowing that you weren’t about to fall into some unknown danger.

Can you imagine what it would be like if the light never came, if that all consuming darkness swallowed you up, and you had no way of getting yourself out? 

Do you still feel that way at times today?          Are you afraid?          Do you know which direction your life is going?        Do you know what’s lurking around the next corner?      Are you stumbling around in life’s darkness; feeling like you are falling deeper and deeper in despair? Do you wish that your circumstances would be different?  Or that all your worries would disappear?

Do you wish that the light would come on and scare all that is darkness away?

We all know darkness; haven’t we all experienced darkness creep up on us and surround us. We all fear different things and these fears if not dealt with become obstacles which we fall into, again and again and again.

These obstacles spread like mould in the dark; they lead us into depression, into a deep gloom, and they become so rooted in our lives that we cannot get rid of them on our own.

When our fears have taken over, it’s not a big step to get to despair. Correct me if I’m wrong, but haven’t we all been here. You know what I talking about, that feeling that festers at the pit of your gut. The feeling of hopelessness, of darkness, of fear, of despair. Despair eventually empties us of all hope, of all light, we feel the weight of darkness creeping in, smothering us with its vastness. We try to get ourselves out of the darkness; we try to find the light switch. But we can’t. None of us can.        

We live our fears, then, they engulf us. We can’t see the path in front of us. We can’t see the directions we are suppose to be going. And we may feel as if the darkness will remain forever, we can’t get out. And we are lost in the darkness.

I sit in the darkness;

I cry out in the night.

Shadows all around

my life is full of fright.

I feel dark upon me,

An eerie mist of sin

Tugging at my heart,

Begging "Let us in."

Beyond the dark I hear,

Calling out my name,

A faint yet fervent voice,

"Darkness I will tame."

Still I let the darkness

Eat this heart of mine.

Yet linger did the voice,

"Do not cross that line."

"Survival here is worth 

more than you can see.

Reach towards the light

Darkness it will flee."

One night the dark was

more evil than before.

The voice spoke gently,

"Open up Light's door."

I called out to the Light,

The Voice bidding me.

I cried out, "I need you."

"Lord, please let me see!"

"Help me get beyond,

The dark restraining me,

Let me see Your glory,

Set this captive free."

Then the evil shrieked;

The murky darkness fled

Great Glory shone around

In the shadows stead

My life has another captor 

The darkness stays away

The Saviour of my life holds

The sinister dark at bay.

Are we left in darkness? No. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. In fact the light has already been switched on, for you. The problem we have is trying to see this light through our darkness.  

The light of the world has come. Jesus Christ, the living God, has come and shone on us. We who have been living in the darkness of our fears and of our sadness’s, we have had His light shine on us. We have had the light shone on our path. The burdens that were upon our shoulders are being lifted, we have been freed.

Sometimes when a person is baptized we light a candle and give it to them to remind them that they are the light of the world. But have you ever thought about “How you are the light of the world”?

You are the light of the world, because Jesus is in you.    Your lives are filled with His presence. The light that shines on your path is actually living within you. A couple of months ago my church had a baptismal remembrance service and one person after the service was talking to me about how much it meant to him. It was the first time he had received a candle to remember his baptism. It reminded him of that time when Jesus came down to him, and made him His brother. I’m not sure what he is doing with his candle now. But I hope that it is in a position where he can constantly see it and remember his baptism. And so too for you reading this today.

Things get tough. We get stressed, We get depressed. Darkness creeps in and we fall deeper and deeper in despair.

But that isn’t the end of the story is it? In fact isn’t the end of the story really the beginning of your story with God.

When you were baptised, you were given the right and privilege of being God’s child. He gave you access to call on Him, and He promised you that he would give you strength. He promised you that your burdens would be lifted, and that he would multiply your joy. He promises that he will be with you forever and that he loves you so SO much. We have a hope that we can be sure of because Jesus has promised it to us. He is our Lord. He is our Saviour. And He is our Light.

God has made glorious the way that was hated, he has made His light, Jesus Christ, shine on us. Where there was depression there is now joy. Where there was distress there is now hope.

John 1:1-18 The Light Vs the Darkness

Living and Dying in the Dark

Longing for Light in Our Darkness.

Can you remember back to when you were a child, at a time when images of creepy crawlies were lurking in the closet? When the boogie man was lying in wait to scare you from under the bed? Every time darkness was upon you the things that scared you most came out to play, or at least that is the way you felt. Did you ever wish that a light would come on and frighten those monsters of darkness away?  What would you say if I was to tell you these images aren’t all wrong? We live in a world of sin, of death and of evil. We sin in hiding, we do the things we know we shouldn’t and they become the skeletons in the closet, the monsters under the bed which need to be illuminated by the light to be expelled.

When we were children, we wanted the light to come and get rid of the darkness. Isn’t it the same now? Everyone, wether we know it or not, whether we believe it or not, we all want and even yearn for the light to come and get rid of the darkness from our lives, we want the sin, death and evil to be removed.

In the gospel reading today we heard that God sent John the Baptist to bear witness to the light. So that all might believe in the Light that was coming. The problem is, although God sent people like John the Baptist to testify about the light, the people didn’t listen to him, and didn’t recognise Jesus or accept him as the Light.

Are we any different today? Aren’t we sent people who proclaim God’s word? Do we recognise Jesus as the true Light? Or do we do the same thing as people have always tried to do and try find “lights” of our own to help us?

Believing in the Dark.

When we try and find or make our own lights to help us, we are really just showing the real problem. Instead of fearing, loving and hoping in the Word that was made Flesh, the light of the world; we place our hopes in false lights or false gods. It could be the false light of placing our trust in lights other than Jesus. It could be the false light of believing that we are good people and that we have done all that we need to do to get our one way ticket into heaven. It could even be the false light of believing that there is no hope. Or as the proverb found on bumper stickers around the world say: Life’s a _____ and then you die.

Anyone who is living a life; fearing, loving and trusting in anything other than Jesus Christ, the true Light of the world, is really living a life believing and worshiping the Dark.  

Dying in the dark.

The situation for those who are living in the dark is not good. They place their trust in the false lights of the world and do not fear, love and trust in The True Light, Jesus Christ. By failing to recognise and accept Jesus Christ as the True Light, who expels all darkness, we are left powerless; we are left like children scared of the dark without a Father in heaven, to turn the light on for us. We are left to deal with the sin which is condemning us from under the bed or from inside the closet, which is envelopes us with fear. All of us... dying... in... the... dark.

Living and Life in the Light

The true Light overcomes the Dark.

Thankfully as we heard in the reading God does not want to leave you in the dark to die. He wants you to know Him. The Word in flesh, the True Light of the world, Jesus Christ, came into the world and dwelt among us. What’s more, he took on all that is darkness. That is, sin, death and the devil. The true light, Jesus Christ shone and the darkness did not overcome. When Jesus died on the cross, he took upon himself the sin of the world, he took on the devil and he took on all that is evil. And He conquered them.

Jesus did not stay dead, for death could not contain him. He rose again on Easter morning showing that darkness could not overcome. The light expelled all darkness.

Jesus Christ the True Light came to you to be your light, to shine on you, to expel all evil from your life. If you have faith and believe in His name.

Believing in the Light.

The power of this Gospel message of Jesus Christ being God’s “True Light”, is also given to us personally, and this makes God known to us. Jesus gives us the gift of faith. This faith was given to you firstly at your Baptism, It was given when the Light was shone upon your life and all darkness fled from the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. You were born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. Our Father gave you the most amazing gift through His son. He made you His Children, children of God.

The faith which you have received replaces the faith which you had in those false lights that I mentioned earlier. As the reading says: “From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known”.

Living in the Light.

Having received this gift of faith, and having received this gift of the True Light in our lives, we are empowered to make this “True Light” known to all who live this world which has been enveloped in darkness. People who are hoping and longing for the Light of the world to be switched on for them; whether they know it or believe it at this stage of their lives.

As children of God, you, like John the Baptist, are given the power to be witnesses, to be witnesses of the light, so that all might believe through him. By the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, God will use you to shine His light for others. Telling them that Jesus is the True Light. That He is the light that they have been searching for. That he has come to scare away all the darkness.

God sent the Christ to us shine on us. To shine away all that is bad, all that is scary. All that was hiding has been revealed. The light has destroyed it. He has shone on you and cleaned you from all that had its hold on you.