Shining in the Darkness—Isaiah 60: 1-6; Matthew 2: 1-12
A few weeks ago, I was driving to a work conference in North Georgia, around Young Harris. If you have never travelled there, you take I-575 to the very end of the interstate where it becomes a regular 4 lane road. Then you drive through the mountains almost into North Carolina. Out of nowhere, 20 minutes from my destination, a deer leapt out of the woods and barreled straight into my work car, which was going about 65 miles per hour. It was an ugly sight. I remember that after I called 9-1-1, I called my training director to come get me. Her first question was, “Where are you?” I looked around and replied, “I don’t know.” She prompted, “Well, what do you see.” And in that moment I wailed out, “Trees and darkness.” I have never been so thankful for the light of a police car and tow truck as I was 10 minutes later when they showed up. Who knows what else was going to come frolicking out of those woods at me!
Despite the number of night owls we may have in this church, there’s still a comfort when the bright sun shines through on us. We know it brings warmth, and we know it helps us see where we are going. I may be a bit of a night owl too, but I can tell you I hate stumbling around in the dark in my apartment. That’s how we take out a little toe or a shin on something we don’t see. Just as the light is important for us literally, the light of Christ is important in our lives as people of faith. We focus in on two important things here in the story for today: the Magi were led by the light, and they dared to take the journey.
There is a long history in the Bible of the importance of God’s light to the people. In the beginning God split the light and the darkness and decreed that the light would rule over our waking hours and the darkness over our sleeping hours. In several instances, God’s brilliant light blinded the enemies so that Israel would not be conquered. In the wilderness, as the Israelites marched to the Promised Land, God led them by a pillar of fire, or light in the dark of night. In the New Testament, we see the light of the star leading the Magi from the very beginning of the story. We also see that God came to the Apostle Paul and used a blinding light to reach his soul and change him from a persecutor to a prophet.
We also hear about this guiding light in the hymn “O Holy Night” which says, “Led by the light of faith serenely beaming, so led by light of a start sweetly gleaming… here came the Wise Men from Orient land.” Now, this light could be Jupiter and Saturn aligning. It could be something non-miraculous and easily explained by science; however, the Gospel tells us that it was a miraculous light, or star of God, that led them. This is how God moves and works in and through us, using that heavenly and miraculous light of Christ to lead us.
We must step into this light and follow God’s guiding. Yet in John 3:19, we are told that “people loved darkness more than the light because their [deeds] were evil.” God has called us to come out of that comfortable place of “do what I want”—the place that leads us away from God’s light, love, and grace. Sometimes we encounter the very ones who miss the light coming from sitting weekly on the pew of their church…or watch in their pajamas at home. You cannot follow God’s light and have a heart with prejudice and hate. You cannot follow God’s light and be filled with bitterness and resentment. You cannot follow God’s light and follow your own selfish desires too. You cannot follow God if there is anything else there in between you and God presently in your life. It’s either God or a great cluttering of things in your life.
One of the things that concerns me most as of late is how many people engage in politics as the be all and end all of life. A friend of mine who pastors a small church in the Tennessee mountains, said this, “If you want to find peace and be happy, turn off the 24 hour news and go sit outside for a while. Even if it’s cold, even if it’s hot, go sit outside and just listen to nature’s hum and rhythm. It will sooth your soul to listen to the music of God’s creation over the noise of human’s worst fears.” We look for light and hope in the process of finding a leader, but that’s not going to work. The people of Israel wanted a king, and they ended up with a royal curse instead of a wise king.
If you want to find the light of God here on earth, then look inside yourself. When you heal, when you join hands together to pray, when you feed the hungry, visit the sick, and love your neighbor, the light of Christ is shining strong. 2025 brings an incredible opportunity to lay aside all the negativity we’ve been building up for a few years, and home in on shining our light of Christ’s love and grace in this world. Wouldn’t that be a powerful commitment, to tune out the negative voices and noise of life and focus on God’s love for the entire year?
We must return to being led by the light of Christ, not by our reaction to news media, not by our reaction to the political climate, not by our reaction to what we don’t like. The Wise Men journeyed and hastened hundreds of miles to Christ through tough terrain and bitter weather. They ignored Herod and his desires to do what was evil stemming from his bloodthirsty lust for power. They journeyed with a message found in gifts. We, too, must journey with a gift—the gift of this Good News of a Savior.
The truth of the matter is that church and faith are not found on a news program, a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories on YouTube and Facebook, inviting in foolishness over common sense and good morals. Church and faith are found in people who call one another to check in, to pray, to share love and hope. Church and faith are found in people who step into the breach where there is suffering to heal, help, and restore. Don’t forget, Christ spent most of his ministry here healing and helping those in need and teaching those hungry for a word of hope. Church and faith are found in people all across their homes sharing bread and cup together and being united in Christ’s table wherever that table may be found for God can come to our worship where we are just as God comes here.
The church and faith are found where we take and shine the light of Christ in the world, for that too, is a gift given to us to share with the world. There’s an old hymn from the seaside hymn writers called “Let the Lower Lights Be Burning.” It’s a bit older and somewhat obscure these days, but there’s a point to it. The story comes from the 1800s and inspired Philip Bliss to write the hymn.
Rev. Dwight L. Moody was preaching once and told a story about a ship on Lake Eerie near Cleveland, Ohio. It was dark that night and the waves were crashing hard from a storm. As the ship was battered back and forth, the Captain and Pilot were speaking. They both saw this one, lone light from a lighthouse on the shore and no other lights around it. The Captain was perplexed and asked if they were at Cleveland. The Pilot responded he was sure of it. The struggle was that all they could see was the light at the top of the lighthouse. There were supposed to be lower lights along the shore lighting up where the rocks and hazards were, and to steer the ship away from danger and toward the big light from the lighthouse. Those lower lights had gone out.
The Pilot and Captain were sure they could manage the ship without the lower lights, but they miscalculated. The ship was hurled into the dark rocks because none of the lower lights were burning, and the journey ended in a fatality. Rev. Moody concluded with this, “Beloved the Master will take care of the great Lighthouse. Let us keep the lower lights burning.” God’s light, high in the heavens is still shining brightly as ever, but what about our lower lights here along the shore on Earth? Have we let the lights burn out, or are we still shining brightly with love and grace for those whose lives are perilously close to the dangers of crashing on the rocks that threaten life, limb, and soul?
Here is what the hymn says, “Let the lower lights be burning, send a gleam across the wave. Some poor fainting, struggling seaman, you may rescue; you may save.” Who in our lives needs us to shine that light of Christ’s love and grace to give them a safe space? Who in our lives needs that strength we may be able to find living in the light of hope instead of the darkness of negative influences? As we journey into Epiphany, remember that we are called not always called to be the Magi journeying to the Christ-child. Sometimes we are called to be the starlight which guides others to that blessed hope for humanity.
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