A Sermon in Three Parts:

Afraid of the Light / The Searchlight / Borrowed Light

Preached by The Rev. Paul Debenport

July 19, 2009

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Call to Worship:  Genesis 1: 1—5; John 1: 1—5

Proclamation: Afraid of the Light

            O.K.  If you’ve read ahead in the bulletin, you’ve noticed that there are three sermon/proclamation sections listed [two at the early service], plus several scriptures.  Rest assured that all three sections are no longer than a normal sermon.  Having gotten rested up some on vacation, I’m just trying to be a little more creative, and hope it will be effective.  And you can help us with that.  Obviously, the theme today is Light, and we’ve already heard the scriptures about God’s good creation of light from Genesis and Jesus as the “light that shines in the world, and the world has not overcome it.”  Light is such a primal and powerful metaphor, and there are so many kinds of light in our modern world, I want you to help us brainstorm some of the kinds of light and lights we experience.  We’ve already done the obvious sun and moon, so what are other kinds of light or lights that you think of?  Let’s brainstorm together now…[spotlight, limelight, nightlight, flashlight, headlights, security lights, candlelight, etc.].

For the most part, all these kinds of lights are useful and good, and surely help to drive away the darkness.  Most of us, too, as children and even in some situations as adults, are afraid of the dark.  With good reasons.  Without a nightlight, we’re likely to hurt ourselves when we’re up in the night.  Also, more crime happens in dark places at night, and figuratively when no one can see or discern what we’re up to.  And try to imagine driving at night without headlights and streetlights.   Fear of the dark—literally and figuratively—is understandable and useful at times.

            But it’s also true about us humans that we don’t always welcome light.  To make this point, all I have to say here is …: department store dressing rooms, new bathing suits, and bright, fluorescent lighting.  We’d all like them better if they were just barely lit, say by candlelight.  Often we don’t welcome bright light, because light exposes flaws.  And not just about our bodies.  It’s true for our souls, as well.  Light means we have to face the truth, the whole truth about ourselves, which can be painful.  Light exposes our flaws we’d rather not see.  In John’s gospel, after announcing Jesus’ as God’s good light for the world, John goes on to testify this truth about us all:  And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.  For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.” _{[John 3: 19—20]}

            Which brings us to God’s good gift of confession.  It is a necessary and healthy way to face the whole truth, holding it up to the light of Christ, painful as that may be, so that we may be healed.  Light may sear, but it also heals, gives life, new life, new ways of life.  So let us trust the saving light of Christ and pray, first, aloud together, and then individually in silence:

Searing but Saving Light of the World:

help us to face up to our flaws; help us to

confess them both to ourselves and to you;

help us to release them to you for your merciful

pardon, and, in gratitude, help us to live more

brightly from your saving light in Jesus Christ.

Accept now, our silent, personal confessions….

Assurance of Pardon:  John 3: 16—17

For God so loved the world that God gave God’s only Son, so that

everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. 

Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world,

but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Friends, Jesus is the Light of the World and your light.

In his light we are cleansed and made fresh as newborn babies.

In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven!

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Proclamation:  The Searchlight

Hear the good Word of God from John 8: 12:

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

            When we were brainstorming different kinds of lights earlier, I think we included Spotlights, sometimes called Searchlights, but to me there is a subtle, but important difference in the two.  Of course, spotlights can be when your in the limelight, performing on stage, but they can also be like a police spotlight that catches us in our transgressions, somewhat like my earlier proclamation at the Call to Confession, that help us face the truth in us that needs healing and changing.  But there are also searchlights, like on a police or firefighters helicopter seeking lost people at sea or in the wilderness.  Jesus, though sometimes our spotlight, is primarily our searchlight that saves us.

            My clergy friend, Bill Carter, tells the true story that one of his parishioners told him.  The parishioner, Tom, tells of walking around one night as a teenager with a couple of friends.  A police car came up behind the boys, and while they weren’t in a very safe place, they hadn’t done anything wrong.  Still they didn’t welcome any attention either.  So they ran down a nearby alley.  Tom tumbled over a trashcan and fell.  Within moments a blinding searchlight was shining on him.  He was sure he was now in deep trouble.  There was no place to hide.

            “I think I recognize you,” the officer hidden behind the light said.  “Don’t you live over on Elm Street?  Tom realized that he was known, and his heart raced as he pictured himself in jail and the officer calling his parents.  But seeing the panic in Tom’s deer-in-headlight eyes, the voice behind the light said, “Son, I’m not here to punish you; I’m here to protect you.”

            And Carter concludes:  “As he stood before that searchlight, Tom says he caught a glimpse of what it means to stand before Jesus, who is the Light of the World.  There he was—fully exposed—yet completely protected.  He was fully revealed, yet free from unnecessary punishment.  He stood hip deep in garbage, yet cleaner than he had ever felt, somehow cleansed by a light that cast no shadow.”^1.

I am the Light of the Word, says the voice behind the searchlight.

Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life..

Thanks be to God.  Amen.

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Proclamation:  Borrowed Light

And Jesus taught them, saying, … “You are the light of the world.  A city built on

a hill cannot be hid.  No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the basket,

but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all in the house.  In the same

way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see

your good works, and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

Which brings us back to where we started today—with the Sun and the Moon.  The light of the sun and the moon are really quite different, though both are beautiful and useful for life.  The moon has no light of its own.  Its light is borrowed light—borrowed from the sun.  Jesus is the sun, and we, the moon, praying to shine with borrowed light from Him.  My friend, poet and hymn writer, Tom Troeger, says it this way:

The moon with borrowed light gives witness to the sun,

discreetly fading with the night when morning has begun.

For borrowed light we pray so we may be a sign

that points to Christ, the truth, the way, the life, the light divine.^2.

Therefore, go forth to let your light—which is borrowed light—shine

to the glory of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Let’s sing of Christ’s call to be His light for all.