pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: darkness


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Shine

Reading: Psalm 80: 4-7 & 17-19

It is dark outside.  The street lights and Christmas lights shine brightly in the cool, crisp air.  In dark places, even one small light can seem so bright.

The psalmist also writes of darkness, although it is a different kind of darkness.  Our Psalm today speaks of “eating the bread of tears” and drinking tears “by the bowlful”.  At times this is the darkness we experience.  Life has become difficult and we feel like we are alone in the dark.  If not us right now, it is true for someone we know.  This time of year can be particularly hard for folks.  For all those who are in pain and feel like they are in darkness or in a dark place, one small light can seem so bright.  God’s love is that light.

Light shines into darkness, casting the dark away.  There can be no darkness in the presence of light.  Whether it is depression or loss or loneliness, darkness can settle in like an unbearable weight.  Often with the darkness comes a loss of hope.  A kind word, a simple gesture, a warm invitation, a gentle hug, a short prayer offered, just our presence – all bring light into darkness.  All bring God’s love to bear.  None of these human efforts, by themselves, cures depression or loss or loneliness, but they bring in God’s love, they begin a step in the right direction.

The psalmist writes, “Restore us, O Lord God Almighty, make your face shine upon us”.  When we reach out, when we pray, when we offer our presence, then we are helping God’s light to shine in dark places.  God’s love can restore anyone and can heal any brokenness.  May we be willing bearers of the light and love this day.  May our lives help God’s light shine into the dark places of light.  In dark places, one light can seem so bright.


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Light

Reading: Luke 1: 68-79

There is a certain peace and solitude that comes with winter camping.  The air is crisp and clear.  Usually you are the only one in the campground.  At night the only sound is the crackle of the fire.  Once you settle into your tent, just a thin layer separated you from the world outside.  Sounds of nature fill the air as a chill settles over all.  I usually wake up early and it is dark and quiet and very cold.  It is a time of solitude and peace.  But it also is a time of waiting.  For the next bit of time I cannot hardly wait for the sun to poke out and to begin to cast its light and warmth on this quiet and cold place.

The Jews had a similar experience awaiting the Messiah.  Except it has been hundreds and hundreds of years.  Prophets of old spoke of the coming of the Messiah.  After long periods of exile, of times of war and defeat, and of occupation by the oppressive Romans, the people long for a Messiah.  The Jew’s hope for a Messiah hangs on the thinnest of threads.  Some even wonder if God has forgotten the promise.

This is the context into which Zechariah breaks forth with his prophecy.  The time has come!  Zechariah prophesies that his son, John the Baptist, is here the “go on before the Lord” to prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah.  The time is very near for the “horn of salvation” to come into the world.

There is hope now.  Just as the sun’s first rays burst forth ending the cold night, bringing light and warmth, so too does the coming of Jesus as He enters the world.  Jesus is that light that shines into the darkness, chasing away oppression and loneliness and fear and doubt.  Because of the tender mercy of God, Jesus came into the world.  His light continues to shine.  May we, as Jesus’ followers, continue to bring forth Jesus’ light this day.


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In the Light

Reading: John 12: 20-36

As Jesus is speaking of His own impending death He is also calling us to be willing to offer our earthly life as well.  This does imply a faith we are willing to die for.  But it also speaks of us dying to self and all of the earthly desires that compete with the divine nature within us.  As a means of encouragement, Jesus reminds us that when a seed dies it produces a crop.  When we are willing to surrender our all to Jesus, then our old self falls to the ground and dies as our new self rises up to produce a harvest of faith.

Jesus encourages us to walk in the light.  When we have chosen to give up our old self we are choosing to step out of the darkness.  The darkness can hide our imperfections and defects.  When we step away from the darkness and into the light of Jesus Christ, we begin to see that the ways we were living were not pleasing to God.  We realize that we were living to please and glorify self.  And just as the dawn rises and light slowly creeps across the landscape, so too does His light.  As we grow in our faith, the light continues to shine into dark corner after dark corner as He continues to refine us.

This choice of laying aside self and walking in His light is a hard choice.  Jesus acknowledges the hard choice that He too faced and yet recognizes that this is why He came – to offer His all for you and me.  He leaves us no wiggle room as well.  He wants us to feel our discomfort over having to choose light or dark.  He urges us on, asking us to put our trust in the light so that we might become sons of light, heirs of an eternal inheritance, receivers of the gift of true life.


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God’s Presence

Job is suffering and he cries out to God.  He searches for God so that he can plead his case and find relief. But God is silent.  When we we are in the midst of a darkness we too cry out to God.  Often we also ask the “why?” question.  If there is no answer, we feel like the darkness deepens.  But even is we do not feel it, God is present.  He is always there.  Through faith we must trust in and rely on this and soon enough His light and love will break through.

The book of Job reminds us that although there is unjust suffering in our world, the world is still good.  It was created by God and He declared it ‘good’.  Much has been corrupted since then but good is still present and will one day come to reign absolute again.  God yearns for us, His people, to cry out for His presence, to seek Him, to experience a loving relationship with Him.

There are many people who suffer without hope because they do not know the Lord.  We must fight to bring His light and love into their lives.  There are many who have given up on the God they once knew and are mired in their suffering.  We must fight to bring an end to their suffering and to reveal God’s love to them again by being His love ourselves.

Too often God is made invisible to people by the darkness in which they live.  As God’s people we must bring justice, grace, mercy, love, and relief to those suffering so that God’s light and love may once again dwell in the hearts of all people.  God wants to be made known.  To whom will we make Him known today?

Scripture reference: Job 23: 1-9 and 16-17


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The Living Temple

For the people of Israel, the temple was something magnificent and wonderful.  The seven year building project was the fulfillment of a promise God made to Israel, the people of God.  It is a symbol of God dwelling with them.  For Solomon it was also a tool.  His prayer asked God to use it for evangelism.  When a foreigner came to see the beauty of the temple, Solomon wanted them to leave having been moved into a relationship with God.

The temple in Jerusalem was a physical place.  For the Israelites, it was the house of God.  In the New Testament, our body is referred to as a temple.  We are called to treat our own body as the temple of God.  This is a much more personal connection.  One does not have to go to the temple or synagogue or church to find God.  He dwells right inside of each person.  The manifestation of God in us should also be a beautiful thing, something that draws others toward God, something that moves others into a relationship with God.

How does one live as a ‘temple of God’?  How does one live in such a way as to reveal the God that dwells within us?  First, it is revealed in how we live our lives.  It is in how we go through our day, in how we treat others, in the decisions we make, and in how we walk through the storms of life.  Second, it is in how we share what it is inside us that makes us ‘different’ from the world and its ways.  It is in how we answer the ‘why’ questions that people will have.  Third, it is in how we share our faith that allows others to seek a personal relationship with Jesus Christ for themselves.  Each day may we live as the light of God, shining into the darkness, bringing the gospel of hope to our world.

Scripture reference: 1 Kings 8: 22-30 and 41-43 Continue reading →


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Giving and Receiving

Faith is meant to be lived out in community.  It is in the wider community of the world that we come to interact with people to share our faith.  Within our churches we also have a community.  It is in the fellowship of believers that we grow and develop in our faith.  It is from this smaller community that we go forth into the world.

Life is about giving and receiving.  In life we will all have situations where we can offer of ourselves to others.  We will also have times when we are in need and others will give to us.  This give and take is what it means to live in community as brothers and sisters in Christ.  It is about being filled and being emptied.

It is often through our relationship with Jesus Christ that we are filled.  He is the bread of life and the living water.  All who come to Him will never be hungry and will never thirst.  At times we need to be filled by Christ.  His table is always open for us to come, to connect with His Spirit, to be filled with His love.  Others in our community of faith can also fill us up and build us up.  This is just one reason community and relationships are so important to our faith.

It is from our community of faith and through our relationship with Jesus that we go forth into the world to answer our call to make disciples of all nations.  This is most often done in small, personal ways.  It is both giving generously of ourselves to meet the needs of another and also graciously welcoming another when they give to us.  Christ must be lived out in all of our relationships so that the light shines into the darkness and overcomes it.  It is in the light that we walk.  It is the light that draws others to Christ.

Scripture reference: John 6: 35


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Imagine a World

Isaiah calls us to rise and shine our light.  Imagine a world with all Christians shining their light!  What a beautiful sight that would be.

Too many people do not feel they can shine.  For some, they simply do not know the Word.  But for others, society and the people in their lives have worn them down, told them for too long that they are worthless.  But this is so untrue.  Each and every person is a child of God.  Each is loved by God.  Each is as important as the next.

Every person also has a small light burning within their heart.  God’s presence is undeniable – although some try.  As believers it is our call to fan the flame, to help it grow in all we know.  It is our call to build each other up to see each’s value in God’s eyes.

Imagine a world with all Christians shining their light!  Oh how the darkness will flee!!

Scripture reference: Isaiah 60: 1-6


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The Word Became Flesh

“In the beginning” is how John begins his gospel. He draws us back to the beginning because Christ was there too.  In this connection back to Genesis we also get the start of Christ’s story.  Until God spoke, our ‘world’ was only chaos and darkness.  Until God spoke.  He spoke the world into being.

Last night we celebrated another creation that God spoke into being.  He said to Mary, “you shall bear a son” and it was.  The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  Through His life Jesus brought us life and light, grace and mercy.  For a second time God spoke and the darkness fled.

When we see Christ as both ancient and also as new, we catch a peak into the holy mystery.  It is that beautiful place where heaven and earth meet.  In this place the light again conquered the darkness.  The darkness shall never overcome the Light.  Here Christ’s glory is revealed.  As the Word becomes flesh and dwells within us, heaven and earth again meet.  From within this imperfect vessel that is each of us, may Christ’s light shine forth this day and every day.  Merry Christmas!!

Scripture reference: John 1: 1-14


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True Light, Eternal Freedom

In Isaiah 9 we find a passage that bridges the time in which he was writing with the time when Jesus lived with our time today.It speaks of what was, what is, and what will be.  By virtue of its timelessness, it is perfect for today.

Throughout time people have craved for light to shine in the darkness, for evil to be overcome.  Isaiah’s words, “the people walking in darkness have seen a great light”, bring hope.  He writes about breaking the yoke of oppression, of ending the foreign dominance.  In Jesus’ day it was the Romans on one level and the religious leaders on another level.  Today the things that oppress us vary greatly – from the self-imposed to things out of our control.  Forever and always we will long for freedom.

Into the midst of the oppression and the longing for freedom from all that burdens us steps the Christ child.  Tonight we celebrate Jesus’ birth – the entrance of the True Light, the arrival of eternal freedom.  Embrace these truths as we gather tonight to welcome Him into the world and into our lives.

Isaiah 9: 2-7


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Light of the World

“Light of the world, you stepped down into darkness.  Opened my eyes, let me see.  Beauty that made this heart adore you, hope of a life spent with you.”  These are the opening lines to the song, ‘Here I Am to Worship’.  We were once called from the darkness into the light.  As we come to know Christ, we come to live in His light.

Once we have accepted Christ we are ‘walking in th light.’  We come to realize that we cannot keep anything hidden from God.  We were once under the illusion that we could.  But once we believe in Christ, we realize that God always knew what we were doing in our sin.  We just come to know that He knows.  Once we are walking in the light, we make decisions from the WWJD perspective (what would Jesus do?)  As we walk in the light, we cast light along other’s paths as well.  This can expose darkness in their lives – and what a great opportunity this can be to minister to them!  At times this too can remind us of darkness we yet have in our lives and it allows us opportunity to grow in our walk with Christ.

Yet alas!!  We are human and at times we step out of the light and into darkness.  Satan is ever knocking at our door, ever bringing temptations before us.  Like Christ, he also never gives up.  At times we may stumble, but the great love and light of Christ always is there to call us back.  Praise be to God for His unending love of you and me!!

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