"The Inward Journey...DARKNESS "
- Rev. Bob Thomas
Senior Pastor
the Old Testament Lesson:
Genesis 12: 1 - 4a
the Gospel Lesson:
John 3: 1 - 17
The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but he saw nothing…Eventually he managed to build a little hut out of driftwood and palm branches to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possessions and some food he had managed to collect.
One day, he ventured deep into the interior of the island and it was dark when he finally got back to the beach and his camp but when he got out of the thick vegetation he saw to his horror that somehow his little hut was in flames, smoke rolling up in the night sky. And he cried out to God, “How could you let this happen to me?” Shipwrecked and now burned out by fire. He threw himself exhausted on the beach and fell into a fitful sleep.
Early the next morning, he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him. “How did you know I was here?”… “We saw your signal fire last night in the darkness.”
The gospel of St. John begins with these words: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…[Jesus is the light] that shines in the darkness…”
In the darkness of the night, Nicodemus the night visitor on his own inward journey seeks out Jesus. We read that Nicodemus is a learned man, a “teacher of Israel” yet is completely in the dark about the true identity of Jesus of Nazareth. And the conversation revolves around seeing the kingdom of God and birth from above and the Spirit of God and wind and its source…finally Nicodemus asks, “How can this be?”
Nicodemus is clearly in the dark…darkness is often associated with confusion, cold, and chaos….Everything gets muddied. My Grandfather used to say, “At midnight, all cats are gray.” Disorder is associated with darkness.
And yet, it is also true that sometimes we see better in the darkness. Do you know what I mean? Sometimes the light can be so bright, when all things stand out with such clarity, that we are unable to distinguish the important things. We become blinded by the light.
I was on a mission trip in Arizona in the beginning of July a couple of years ago. The grandmother in the family on whose home we were working went to revival meetings every night…not in the evening, at night. The heat and the intensely bright sun high on the chaparral in Northern Arizona make being outside in the daytime almost a chore in itself. Shade…even a tiny strip of it is a welcome gift. So the local churches held their revivals at night…started about 10:00 PM and went until dawn. It made sense…it was cooler, the darkness made a shelter to surround the small circus style tent so the strings of light bulbs could focus the light on the preacher, musicians and worshipers. The night time revival was a wonderful idea. Sleep in the heat of the day…worship and pray to God in the cool of the darkness of the night.
About fifteen years ago, Kate and I flew to Chicago for the day. In the afternoon we took a boat ride through the city to see the beautiful architecture of the towering buildings. Our guide was an architectural student and explained that many of the newer buildings were flat with lots of glass because we moderns need lots of bright, dazzling light. He lamented our romance with brightly lighted spaces because the shadows, he explained make the buildings and the spaces more interesting and beautiful. “Shadow,” he insisted, “the interplay of light and dark, is a key element in architectural beauty.” And he is right.
Nicodemus is the night visitor. Most came to Jesus in the daytime. That’s the only time some can imagine worship…in the full, bright light of day. Bright colors, happy songs, everyone smiling.
Nicodemus comes to Jesus in the darkness of the night. Maybe he didn’t want to be seen by anybody else…any of his upper-crust religious friends. In his conversation with Jesus, Nicodemus seems confused; he has trouble following what Jesus is trying to teach him about God’s love and our new birth through the spirit. Jesus is patient and persistent and guides Nicodemus through the conversation…accepts Nicodemus where he is and gently leads him through the darkness of his struggle and we all benefit with the beautiful 16th verse that has been called the Gospel in miniature: “For God loved the world, that he gave his only son, so that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have life everlasting.” When I was a Kid one of the evangelists who came to our church said that the best way to hear the gospel in John 3:16 is to substitute your own name for “world.” Try it with your name. “For God so loved [your name] that he gave his only begotten Son, so that if [your name] believes in him, [your name] may not perish but may have eternal life.”
I like Nicodemus. I must confess that I don’t always come to church all bright and smiling and happy. I guess like some of you, there are times that there are shadows in my life….darkness in my soul. Perhaps we are to see, in the story of Nicodemus that coming to Jesus in the dark can be a good thing.
When I was one of the Pastor’s at Englewood UMC, I was introduced to one of the best church camps I had ever experienced. The Sidney First church had been doing a week of church camp at Tar Hallow 4-H Camp for well over 50 years. It was meticulously organized, spiritual and filled with time honored traditions. The camp had captured the hearts of generations of youth…Grandparents who had been campers themselves in their youth worked the camp for their grandchildren’s generation. There was a morning teaching, classes, special interest activities, recreations and fellowship events. But by far, the highlight of the week was the Friday night camp fire service. It was carefully planned and prayerfully executed… but the thing that made the presence of the Lord so real was the fact that it was dark. Camp fires always are more impressive in deep darkness. The darkness wrapped around us and pulled us together around the fire. The darkness of the night helped each of us to focus on the message that the Holy Spirit was bringing to us. I saw lives changed…I saw hearts healed…I saw new beginnings in the midst of the darkness of the night.
The ministry of Jesus was not fulfilled in the dazzling mountain top experience, but in the darkness of a hillside outside Jerusalem that was used for the garbage dump, Golgotha, means the “Place of the Skull.” For three hours the sky turned dark because the sun refused to shine. And in the darkness of the crucifixion our salvation was forged. God’s love was revealed in the deep darkness of Calvary.
I don’t now if the sun is shining for you right now. I hope it is. I hope that you are happy, that things are going well for you, that you are in good health, that your family and friends are fine. But I’ll tell you this: if this day, this second Sunday of Lent, happened to find you not well, not well off, not happy, in the dark night of your soul…the good news is that we have a savior that keeps evening hours. Our God works the night shift! When our inner journey takes you into the darkness embrace it and Jesus will meet you there just as Jesus met Nicodemus. Jesus will embrace you, sit with you, teach you, reveal his will to you, and show you his love. Even in the darkness of the night we are not alone! Thanks be to God. Amen and Amen.
Let us pray: Lord Jesus, we come to you on this Sunday morning, confident that you are here to meet us, sure that you have summoned us to this place of worship, praise and prayer.
We also thank you for coming to us, calling to us, in less inviting, in less beloved locations. You are with us in the darkness when we are at the bedside of one who is quickly approaching death or suffering with the pain and sickness, in the middle of a difficult decision, when we are struggling to find meaning when we have lost our way, when everything is so unbearably confusing, when we feel so alone and the darkness envelopes us…and you come to us. You come to us, speak our names, extend your unconditional love, and hold us in your embrace even in the times of deep darkness. Keep us faithful to the journey…even in the DARKNESS of the night.
Amen and Amen.
