John 1:6-9; 19-35

Can I Get Some Light in Here?

Sermon preached Dec. 6, 2015
Opening
You know how some people are a real pain to get gifts for? Im not one of them. My
family knows that if they cant think of anything to get me, they can always fall back on
one gift that Ill like and appreciate. One gift that I cant seem to get enough of. No
matter how many I have. And that gift, is a flashlight.
Im a sucker for flashlights. I love the feel of a solid piece of well-machined metal in my
hand. The click of one of those thick rubbery buttons. And I love the power of newer
flashlights today - the LED kind have totally outclassed the old bulb flashlights - that
great big heavy Maglight flashlight that took 4 D batteries that you could use to club a
moose into unconsciousness? You can get more light from a LED flashlight that uses 2
AA batteries and they last ten times longer.
But my current favorite flashlight, is one that my children love to make fun of me for
using. Its this headband flashlight. 120 lumens of brightness. Full and dim setting, and
even a flashing setting for taking walks at night! I dont see why they make fun of me for
wearing this, do you? I use it all the time. And I love that I can strap it on and go for
walks in the dark and when I turn my head, the light turns too, and I can see where Im
going in the dark. And others can see me.
Christmas light
Today is the second Sunday in Advent. Advent is the season we prepare for the coming of
our Savior Jesus Christ - the light of the world.
Christmas means light. Do you know why Christmas is celebrated at the end of
December? Its not because thats when Jesus was likely born. The best clue we have is
the line that the shepherds were out in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night.
Shepherds did that in the Spring, so many scholars think Jesus was born in April. We
celebrate Christmas during the darkest time of year because the early church wanted to
symbolize that Jesus is the light of the world who shines in the deepest darkness.1
The world is in the dark
That is the good news, my friends. That Jesus, has come as the light of the world, to
defeat the darkness. Light wins, darkness flees, God reigns, evil is defeated in the coming
of Christ at Christmas.

I dont think many people need convincing that there is a terrible darkness in our world.
You see it every day in the media, you see it around you at work, you see it when people
you love grow sick and suffer, you see it when people make horrendous life choices.
But I want to testify that the light of Christ shines in the darkness.
On Monday God sent us someone who needed the light of Christ, in the form of a wee
little 22-year-old woman. A local homeless shelter sent her to us, told her the
congregation of Central helps people. What a story of pain and suffering she had. This
young woman who weighs maybe 90 pounds soaking wet, has been on her own since she
was 16. Parents divorced, dont want anything to do with her. She got addicted to heroin.
Been in rehab a number of times. Left a rehab center last weekend and went to her dad
for help. His help turned out to be finding a sketchy group of people who were leaving
town and giving them $40 to take her to Florida to stay with her aunt. He tells her dont
contact me again. So the group drove down I-81 - and ditched her in Chambersburg.
Took that $40, all she had and her cell phone.
So she ends up at Central. Erin talks with her, gets her some coffee and food. She hasnt
slept in days so she takes a long nap in the church parlor while Erin tries to figure out
how we can help her. I come in and then Andrea from the CHAT group and Erin makes a
bunch of calls, we check out her story and then we figure out a plan to help - we get her a
bus ticket back to New York where a friend has agreed to take her in, get her a prepaid
cell phone and a night at the Travelodge and some food money and a ride to the bus
station in Harrisburg. Paid for it using the money you earned through the Pork & Kraut
dinner.
Through all this she asks for nothing. She keeps saying, why are you doing this for me,
nobody has ever helped me like this, she breaks down crying in gratitude, she says the
world out there is so terrible, so many messed-up people who are suffering and doing
terrible things and why are you being nice to me...why - because Jesus shines his light of
love and healing and peace through this congregation. And its our privilege, what a gift
to be here on the Square able to serve like this..
There is light, shining in the darkness.
Our need for repentance
And God wants to heal us with the light of Christ, too.
But heres the tough part. The light of Christ also comes to expose and to heal the
darkness within us. Not just out there. In here, too.
Thats what John the Baptist was about. God sent him as sort of a warm-up act for Jesus
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Christ, to tell the people to get ready for the coming of the Savior.
And how did you get ready? Repent - admit the darkness within, admit your helplessness
before its awful power, and turn towards the light of Christ.
This is the part of the gospel a lot of people dont like to hear. We like to hear that were
all created in the image of God and have immense worth and value, we love to hear of
Gods unconditional love and grace, we feel challenged and energized by Gods call to
help suffering people - but this stuff about darkness and repentance sounds too much like
that old-time tent revival fire-and-brimstone religion.
But all four of the gospel narratives about Jesus, start with John the Baptist. Its as if
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are all saying you cant go to Bethlehem to see baby
Jesus, until you first go out to the Jordan River to see John.
And so must we. Each and every Advent, we are called to repent and turn to the light of
Christ because, as Martin Luther put it, the Christian life is a continual act of repentance turning away from darkness, turning to the light and love of Christ.
What does that look like? Repentance, means taking responsibility for yourself, your life
and admitting your mess. But as P.J. ORourke wrote in a column two years ago, my
generation, we are extremely gifted at avoiding that responsibility. Quote - Fortunately,
we are all alike in our approach to (our)...problems too. We won't face them. There's a
website for that, a support group to join, a class to take, alternative medicine, regular
exercise, a book that explains it all, a celebrity on TV who's been through the same thing,
or we can eliminate gluten from our diet. History is full of generations that had too many
problems. We are the first generation to have too many answers.2
John the Baptists mission, was to strip away all the pretending and posturing that weve
got it together. And when you got baptized by John in the Jordan River, you stripped
down to your birthday suit and went into the water stark naked - no hiding or pretending and you were also naked figuratively - you had to cast aside all the self-justification we
use to hide our brokenness, you had to face yourself as you really are, you had to stand
naked before God, with no defenses or rationalizations, no pathetic hope that with a little
help, every day and in every way, Ill get better and better.
Have you ever done that - stood naked before God, before the searching, all-seeing gaze
of the Almighty? The light of Christ that invades the darkest places in our world, sees
also into the darkest places in our hearts.
Maybe that makes you feel like this story, about a mother who was preparing for
guests one evening and her four year old son, caught up in the excitement of it all,
became rambunctious. He was into everything. She had the dining room table
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perfectly set, the tablecloth pressed, the napkins and the silverware all in place.
The boy came dashing by and ran into the corner of the table, and knocked
everything over. Furious, the mother came after him and chased him out of the
house. Down the front porch stairs he ran and then he crawled under the porch,
his mother in hot pursuit. She dropped down to crawl in behind him and then
decided, "This is ridiculous. I've got too much to do. I'll wait for his father to
come home and have him take care of it."
Dad came home and when he walked in the mother said, "Do you know where
your son is?" He said, "No." She said, "He's been acting up all day, and I want
you to handle it. He's hiding under the front porch; go out and get him." So the
father went out, dropped to his knees and crawled under the porch and there back
in a dark corner he saw two little eyes and then a little voice said, Is she after
you, too?
But if we cry out for God to heal the darkness out there in our world, we have to admit
that a lot of that darkness, comes from in here, comes from the human heart. And we
have to admit, that our hearts and minds are shadowed by the darkness too. And
we...need...rescue.
We all need rescue
Listen to this story from the writer Jamie Wright:
The setting sun cast an orangey-pink glow against the dirt-bag SurfWind motel. A
couple of hookers and a drunk lingered by the corner of the building and a guy leaned
against the flag pole with a cigarette.
Enjoying a happy ending smoke, I suppose.
I joked, If herpes was a color, itd be that orangey-pink. But my friend stayed quiet in
the drivers seat. Stupidly, I kept talking, sharing my disgust for the scene outside my
window, Youve gotta be some kind of desperate to pay for sex. Who does that,
anyway? What kind of guy uses a hooker?!
Youd be surprised is all he said.
And I assumed he was talking about the mayor of San Franciscoor Kevin Bacon, or
something.
But that moment in front of the SurfWind motel came back in a flood of understanding a
year later, when my friend said he needed to talk and I found him lying on the floor, just a
pile of tears and snot, and I heard his confession through his sobs. As it turns out, he was
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that guy, the kind that uses hookers.

He was married, he was a pastor, and he was right I was surprised.
Later, I sat talking with a group of women while we sipped coffee and nibbled the ends of
crispy cookies like emaciated wannabe super-models. One of the women started a little
rant against abortion, and the other ladies clucked and nodded in approval. Who does
that? she raged, What kind of person murders an unborn child?
I glanced from one face to the next, hopeful for signs of Grace and Mercy, when I finally
settled on the president of the PTA sitting across from me, her brown eyes rimmed with
tears. Very quietly, as if whispering a secret to her steaming latte, she answered, Youd
be surprised. But the chatter of the soccer moms had already moved on to important
things, like who saw the last episode of The Bachelor.
I sat in that circle of women, buzzing from the caffeine high and thinking on my own dark
secrets; the guys Id slept with, the drugs Id played with, the teen pregnancy. I was
thinking about how, even now, as a grown woman, a married mother of 3, I was still
broken, still doing awful things that I was ashamed of. And then I ate the rest of my
cookie, plus two more, because I knew that as soon as I got home I would stick my finger
down my throat and barf them up.
As I reached for a fourth, one of the ladies leaned over and put her hand on my knee,
saying, Jamie, how is the whole missionary thing going? Thats just so exciting! I mean,
who does that?! Who moves halfway across the world to serve Jesus?!
And I had to smile. Oh, youd be surprised
Do you really want to know who does that? Because, honestly, youd be surprised.
We are the People of the Second Chance. We are anorexic missionaries, pastors with porn
habits, and PTA Moms with shady pasts. We are that guy. Wholly broken and fully
redeemed, we no longer wonder Who does that?! because we already know the answer.
That kind of person. needs a Second Chance.
I need a second chance.
And maybe you do, too.3
Christ the Light of the World
And that is why Jesus came.
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You read the gospels and one amazing thing is that the good religious people hated Jesus,
and the broken, hurting sinful people were drawn to Jesus. I think thats because the
religious people were covering up the darkness within them by using their religion - look
at me, what a good and righteous person I am! The broken, hurting, sinful people - it
was out in the open and the light of Christs love felt like the warmth of the sun on a
perfect 70-degree day - they felt embraced and loved, and that healed them and set them
free.
And we can be free, too. Thats what Jesus came to do. To set us free. As Peter put it in
his first letter, we have been called out of darkness into Gods marvelous light.
I want to testify there is light in the darkness, light for our darkness. Will you let the light
of Christ shine in those dark, hidden places inside you; will you let the light of Christ
expose you, will you look at yourself clearly and own your life, your brokenness, your
mess, your failures, and give them up to Christ for forgiveness and healing?
Closing
During the 2008 presidential race, John McCain was asked by Time magazine to share his
"personal journey of faith." In his article McCain shared a powerful story of something
that occurred while he was a prisoner of war in Vietnam:
When I was a prisoner of war in Vietnammy captors would tie my arms behind my
back and then loop the rope around my neck and ankles so that my head was pulled down
between my knees. I was often left like that throughout the night.
One night a guard came into my cell. He put his finger to his lips signaling for me to be
quiet and then loosened my ropes to relieve my pain. The next morning, when his shift
ended, the guard returned and retightened the ropes, never saying a word to me.
A month or so later, on Christmas Day, I was standing in the dirt courtyard when I saw
that same guard approach me. He walked up and stood silently next to me, not looking or
smiling at me. Then he used his sandaled foot to draw a cross in the dirt. We stood
wordlessly looking at the cross, remembering the true light of Christmas, even in the
darkness of a Vietnamese prison camp.4
The light of Christ shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it, will not
overcome it, cannot overcome it. Amen.
Endnotes
1. Oscar Cullman, The Early Church, pp. 3ff. Book now out of print.
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2. P.J. ORourke, The Boomer Bust, in The Wall Street Journal, November 30, 2013.
3. http://www.theveryworstmissionary.com/2011/08/youd-be-surprised.html
4. John McCain, A Light amid the Darkness, Time magazine, August 18, 2008, p. 40.