hope

Jesus Wept (Sermon April 6, 2014)

Scripture: John 11:1-45

I have a friend that decided to walk across Spain for lent, and has been writing a blog tracking her experiences on the famous journey known to many as el Camino de Santiago, the Way of St. James, or simply as “The Way.” Many people have made this journey and it is actually one of the most walked pilgrimages in Europe. Even the actor Martin Sheen and his son Emilio Estevez have captured it in the movie, “The Way” released in 2011.

I have had a few friends that have made this physical and spiritual journey, and at times I would love to travel that path as well, but for now I will just enjoy reading about it and keep the blisters off of my feet. The interesting thing is that people walk this path for very different reasons, and as they walk they meet people from just about everywhere in the world also walking along “The Way.” Often they do not speak the same language, or maybe they began with different people, but no matter what they build a community and a friendship that crosses cultural barriers because each person knows that they are walking a spiritual journey and they realize that to make it to the end they often need help or will be needed to help.

Each of us walks through our own journeys in life. Sure they may not be as adventurous as a 513-mile hike through rugged terrain and quaint villages, but we walk a journey. Each of us have times where the path we are on is steep or our feet ache and we can hardly take another step, and other times we can look out before us and see the views of Spanish vineyards stretching as far as we can see. We each are on a journey with different life experiences and for different reasons, each one of us walking.

This pilgrimage in Spain has been active for centuries some would say it dates back to the 9^th Century. It was a journey that was to encourage a closer and more dedicated life with God. Which is a shortened and symbolic version of the journeys that Jesus made with his disciples as he actively ministered in Judea. They would walk from Galilee to Jerusalem and back several times over the course of the three years, and along the way Jesus would teach and minister to those around Him. As they walked with Christ, many including the twelve Apostles, would learn how to live and walk in the ways of God, in the light. It is no wonder that the earliest Christians were originally called followers of “the way.”

It is on one such journey that we meet with Jesus in the passage we read today. A friend of Jesus’ is ill and this man’s sisters send people out to find Jesus. Jesus is out in the countryside teaching, around where John the Baptist was teaching along the Jordon. Now this man, Lazarus was a close friend of Jesus’, as were his sisters Mary and Martha. They are mentioned several times in the Gospels, and many of those times they were a host to the traveling disciples of Jesus. This family supported and encouraged the ministry of Christ, and were encouragements to others following Jesus in “the way.” Because of the closeness of their relationship with Jesus all kinds of theories have emerged some of them we have heard, like that Jesus was married to Mary, and others are not as common, like that Lazarus might have been the disciple Jesus loved mentioned later in John’s Gospel. These of course are theories that cannot be proven historically or biblically but make interesting conversation. But what we do know is that they were close, very close, almost like family to Jesus. They provided a place of rest and a place of meeting. Their home in Bethany, in many ways was Jesus’ home.

Lazarus is ill; Mary and Martha are scared and need their friend. They believe that Jesus is the chosen one, the Messiah, and has the power to heal their brother so they cry out for Jesus. Yet Jesus does not come immediately, instead he waits. Jesus, their closest friend, waits two days knowing that Lazarus is lying on his deathbed. Just take a moment to consider the tension within this story. In our contemporary culture, it is difficult to fully grasp just how tense the situation really is. Mary and Martha live with their brother, this is very important. This means that they are not married, because if they were they would be in the husband’s house not the house of their brother. This also means that Mary and Martha would lose everything, their entire livelihood if their brother were to die. The house they live in would go to their closest male relative and they would be at that man’s mercy. It is not like today. Today it is very common for women to have a career on their own without having to solely rely on men. Today we teach our daughters to be strong and self-reliant, we let them know that they are equal to men. With that being said women in ancient Israel were not as bad off as women in other cultures. The Hebrew women had much more liberty than we may think, even though there were so many laws in the Old Testament that appear to be so negative, but still Mary and Martha lived in under the care and protection of their brother.

Mary and Martha’s lives are about to be turned upside down. All they know and have are bound to their brother, yet their only hope is waiting. Imagine what might be going through their minds. Imagine how you would feel, and also imagine those times of struggle you have had.

How many times have we been walking though our lives and it seems like everything is going wrong. We cry out to God and yet it feels like He does not even care. I have been there as I am sure many of you have been as well. I have sat crying in the dark as a sibling of mine was lying in a hospital bed. I was sitting not knowing if my sister would live and all I could do was pray and yet all the reports our family received were filled with hopelessness. I have cried several times to God, placing all my hope in His hands seemingly only to get a dial tone on the line.

What do we do in those times? We can either continue to walk along the way, or we turn away. I have done both at different points in my life. In many cases the direction I walked had a lot to do with the relationships and the encouragement of the people around me. When my sister died although I claimed faith, I can look back and see that I turned from God. I turned from Him and ran toward anything that would help distract my attention from the grief that an adolescent is not equipped to handle alone. At times, I honestly wanted the faith I grew up with to be just a myth and at other times I clung tightly to the hope that faith gave me. Eventually my choices caught up to me and I realized that though I ran, God was with me all along the way as was the community of Friends that continuously encouraged me to seek God.

At times God seems far away and unresponsive. At times God seem down right cruel, because instead of coming quickly to our rescue He waits. We wait in this tension, we wait in this cloud, and we question everything about our faith. We perceive that God has left, and are unable to see the other side because in the midst of the struggle we desire only one solution, yet God waits and we wait with each other.

Those with Jesus knew the deep relationship with this family; they knew that Jesus loved this man and his sisters. Yet they too had their own issues and struggles. When Jesus announced that they would head to Judea they pleaded with Jesus to turn away. “Rabbi, The Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” they cried out. Each one Mary, Martha, Lazarus, and the twelve disciples were walking uniquely on the way with Jesus. Each one had an idea of who and what Jesus was or should do. Each one had a need and a desire for Jesus to fulfill. The disciples knew the love that Jesus had for Lazarus, yet they pleaded with Jesus to stay away. How often do we oppose the desires of God in our lives? How often do we know the right direction to walk yet in our own wisdom we plead that God just have some sense and go our way instead? And we respond like the disciples, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.”

I have justified many actions. I have used the things I have learned in school and the things I have experienced to rationalize various situations. There are times where I have walked full steam ahead without giving a second thought to God; I have tried to avoid leadings, and times where I have argued with God. At times God just does not make any sense, yet there are times where the message is very clear.

“Lazarus is dead.” The jaws of the disciples dropped, no longer could they rationalize or avoid the situation, because things just got real. Thomas then pipes up and says the bravest thing, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” We may think Thomas is being a wet blanket but really he is courageous. The leaders of the Jews want to kill Jesus but Thomas after hearing the full story says, “We must go to Martha and Mary even if it means we too may die.” I have been in those situations as well. Where the calling has been so strong even though the rational mind says this is stupid and will ruin me, yet I am compelled to follow Jesus even if it would cost me everything. Most of you do not know how often people advised against me entering ministry, or even moving here to Kansas City. In their minds it was not logical and it would be a waste, but the call was so strong that like Thomas I would go even if it killed me.

So they go and Martha runs to meet Jesus on the road. “Lord, if you had been here…” she cries. Mary too runs to meet him crying, “Lord, if you had been here…” This is the beauty of the story. Yes it is pretty cool that Lazarus gets raised from the grave and all but these two conversations are beautiful. We get to see just how much Jesus loves this family, and in the process I hope we can learn how to be better encouragers along the way.

Jesus lets both Martha and Mary talk. He listens to them and responds very differently to each. With Martha he speaks and teaches. But with Mary he keeps his mouth shut and weeps with her. Mary and Martha have two very different personalities and respond differently to the stress and grief they experience. For Martha she needed encouraging words and sound doctrine. Mary just needed someone to help her carry her emotions. Jesus met them where they were, and was with them through the pain.

Every one of us has, have had, or will have stress and pain in our lives. We experience and respond differently when those painful events happen. Some of us internalize the stress and others are more open to express. Just like those that walk el Camino de Santiago, each person is there for a different reason, but each needs encouragement and to encourage those around them to keep walking. As those people walk through Spain they talk and get to know each other. They learn about their families and hear quirky stories about their life. The church and the Christian life is like that journey, a path we walk down. Before we can be an encouragement we first walk with each other, hear the stories and eventually begin to go deeper. Friendship begins with our ears. Jesus let the women talk before he did anything.

Only after we really listen can we respond. But how do we respond? If Jesus had cried with Martha it would not have been an encouragement to her, and if he had blasted theology to Mary she would have been devastated. We all have different personalities and need different types of encouragement at different times. We may be uncomfortable with the type of encouragement someone else needs, but guess what Church, or the Journey we walk with Christ is not about us. True we are part of the church and the journey, but the most important aspect is about how we can become like Jesus to become an encouragement to others. There is a time to speak and a time to listen; there is time for teaching and a time to be emotional. There are times to be angry and times we need to let go, but our response should be tempered to the personality of the one we are encouraging. That is how we build community. That is how we build friendship. That is how we become disciples and Friends of Christ.

As we center down and enter into this time of open worship or holy expectancy let us consider Jesus’ responses to these very special women. As we pray and commune with God as Friends in the silence, let us consider how we can become a better encouragement to those around us. As we contemplate on the grief of these women let us be open about our own pain and struggles, releasing them to God and seeking encouragement from others because life is too big to walk alone. And as we imagine the excitement of that day when Lazarus walked out of the tomb let us remember that through it all there is power and hope in Jesus. Who came down from heaven to share life with humanity, who invested time showing us how to live a life with God, who took our sin and shame to the cross and buried them in a grave, and who releases us from the burdens and bondage of them as He rose on the third day. Let us become a people loving God, embracing the leadings of the Holy Spirit, and living the love of Christ with other.

Hope Through the Trials (Sermon March 9, 2014)

Scripture: Matthew 4:1-11

There are some days where there it seems as if the sun is moving in fast forward. You know those days, the ones where you have a doctor appointment, an interview, a paper to write along with a book to read, and about when you think you have gotten caught up you have three reports to run and five last minute clients that need your attention immediately. Then after work just when you might think you could catch a break you have supper to cook, laundry to wash, and a toilet to fix at home. So I just explained your typical Tuesday, I won’t mention the typical Monday because that would be too traumatic for us. The point is we are busy. From the fifth time we hit the snooze button until we finally get to bed around midnight we are running. Busy is the term most of us would use to describe the way we feel any given day. Even those of us that are retired seem to be busy.

We are stretched as a culture, stretched between our jobs and family, stretched between school activities and community events, and stretched between various tasks at home. We feel stretched thin, nearly to our breaking points, and then just one more thing happens and we snap. We yell at a child when all they wanted was a cup of water, we refuse service to a client and let them know what we really think, and our spouses see the side of our personality that we try so hard to keep hidden. Usually the breaking point is able to be mended, but there are times when real damage is done, words are said that cannot be taken back, and sometimes someone ends up with a frozen steak resting against an eye.

These days where we are stretched to the breaking point and beyond are the days where our disciplines kick in and our true character is shown to those around us. How we respond during the trials of our lives are the things people remember the most. That is why today’s passage is so encouraging. Jesus was tested, He was tempted just like we are, and He had to face trials as we do every single day of our lives. I find that little bit of information quite refreshing, knowing that God understands what a bad day feels like and there is a way to move forward. Scripture even says in Hebrews 4:15. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested a we are, yet without sin.” Jesus understands that we have bad days; He understands being stretched, and being brought to a point where we just want to scream. He was tested or tempted in every respect as we are.

After John baptized Jesus, Jesus was lead by the Spirit to the desert, where he fasted for forty days and nights. While out in that deserted placed the tempter came to test Jesus, after forty days it says that Jesus was famished. Jesus has a real need, he has not eaten for an extended amount of time and there are rocks just sitting there. They are shaped in such a way that they look like loaves of bread and the very thought makes one’s mouth water and stomach to growl. “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” Just think about that for a while. This temptation is one that we are faced with all the time. It is the temptation to satisfy our needs quickly. It is only bread you might say. It is not a big deal, but the tempter is encouraging Jesus to use a means to gaining what he wants and needs illegitimately.

This temptation is the most common temptation. There is a hierarchy of needs as humans. Food, water, shelter, and others some are greater needs some are lesser but if one is missing we tend to do whatever we can to obtain it. Now most of us could not turn the stones into bread, but we do have other means. We have little cards in our wallets that can magically give us whatever we want. With just a swipe we can have a steak, or new shoes. The temptation of using credit to obtain what we need could lead into a temptation for us to use it to gain what we want, illegitimately. Eventually the bill will come and we will be faced with reality. You are hungry and you don’t have cash, just swipe the card and you will have what you need.

So many people in our community have become victims to this vicious cycle, I know it all to well myself. What we once thought of as a safety net has become a snare that keeps us from really being free. You might say that Jesus using his divine power and you using a credit card are not the same thing but they are similar. With every action there is a reaction, this applies not only in physics but also in relationships and life. If we try to get what we need through illegitimate means, there are consequences.

“Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down…’” This second temptation we may have a hard time relating to, because not too often do we find ourselves standing on a pinnacle contemplating a jump. Many of us have gotten involved in risky behaviors though. How many times have we woken up late and sped to work praying earnestly, “Please don’t let there be a cop.” Or have you ever written a check and hoping that you had just enough time to make a deposit before the check cleared? We tend to proceed with actions expecting God to bless us, when maybe true obedience was something else. “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” We have each tried to reason with God, “If you do this then I will do that.” This is a temptation that we easily fall into and often it is the very thing that causes us to lose faith in God. We pray for something and it doesn’t work out the way we hoped, so we assume God either doesn’t care or that he doesn’t exist. But in reality when we enter into those types of activities we are not trusting God, but instead we are jumping off a building expecting nothing bad to happen.

Jesus is then taken to a high mountain and shown all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. The devil says to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” This temptation is one that we so often face especially in the corporate world. Power and wealth are very attractive. If only I were to do this I could move up a step. If only I turn a blind eye to this action, I could gain more money. If only I vote this way I could have it all. Power and wealth have tempted us all at some point. We may not have been tempted to the same degree we may not even know that we have been tempted. We may think this is only a problem for politicians or company executives but it can happen to us all.  When I worked in the lawn care business we had to meet certain production goals to have the weekend off. The temptation was to cut corners to get more lawns done in less time, many would just spread fertilizer on the lawns and neglect to go back over the lawn to spray the weeds, but the customer paid for both. This is similar to the first temptation but instead of our needs it focuses on our desires.

Jesus was tempted by needs, desires, and our methods. He needed food and all he had to do was say a word and the stones would turn to bread. He had the power to fulfill his need but to do so would be an illegitimate use of the power. He was tempted to force his acceptance as messiah by jumping from the roof of the temple testing that God would protect him and the people would be amazed, but to do so would be unethical and an illegitimate use of his power. He was tempted to gain become the King of Kings and Lord of Lords at that very moment if only he would bow a knee, but to do so would not truly satisfy the mission set before him. Every day we are stretched thin and are tempted in these very same ways. Each is focused on our own selfish needs and desires at the expense of someone or something else. If we were to succumb to the temptations there would be a consequence to the actions, consequences that we did not intend but they happen just the same. But when we are stretched thin we are not always thinking clearly and that is when unlike Jesus we miss the mark and sin.

This passage reassures us that God understands our condition but it also tells us how to combat the temptation and train our bodies and spirits to face the various trials of life. We now need to hit the rewind button and go back to the beginning of today’s passage. What was Jesus doing in the desert? He was fasting. A fast is something that many people do not understand. In simple terms it is abstaining from something for a time, to focus on something else. Many see a fast a way to convince God to do their wills, but that is putting God to the test. I want us to look at it in a different way.

Let us remember back to the days when we were first developing our relationship with our spouse, I apologize for those that are not married but I hope you can follow along. Remember the activities you would do together? The time spent with each other? You would sacrifice an evening out with your friends at the drop of a hat, just to spend time with the one you hoped to marry. You would spend your last dollar to give them a gift that would express your devotion to them. You may skip a meal so that you could get off work earlier so you could spend more time with the one you love. You would stop doing some activities so that you could afford to invest in them. You sacrificed something and invested that into a relationship. We sacrifice without any question, because they are more important.

That is a fast; it is sacrificing something to build the relationship. It is giving up a meal so we can spend that time nourishing our relationship with God. It is giving up something that brings us pleasure for the moment so that we can instead gain that pleasure from God. Is it difficult yes, but it is worth it. The sacrifice does not force God into doing something, but it instead opens our spirits to hear from Him in a deeper way.

Now let us look again at the passage. Jesus went out into the desert and fasted for forty days and nights. Many will say that there is special power in this number, citing that Moses was on the mountain with God forty days while he received the law from God. Or that Elijah spent forty days in the cave, or that it rained for forty days on Noah and his family in the ark. I will not dispute or confirm the special-ness of the number forty. That it occurs so often in scripture is important enough, but what is forty days? It is over a month. It is a significant amount of time. Time is the key word. In our culture where time is in short supply this is significant. Waiting and listening, conversing with God and listening for the inner voice to speak is a discipline that we so often neglect. This unhurried ability to wait is what causes us so often to fall into the snares of the temptations around us. We feel there are pressing matters and we must act now! But what if we were to just wait, listen and seek for the right timing. Many very bad decisions could have been avoided if only we would have waited. Wait. For many of us in our busy culture wait is one of those four letter words that we do not use. We are a people of action, and to wait is just not in our make up. But Jesus spent forty days waiting, fasting, and praying. In the waiting he was tested; obtain your needs, your desires, and take matters into your own hands. Through the waiting Jesus was able to confront those tests with wisdom and integrity. “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God… Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test… Worship the Lord you God, and serve only Him.”

For many followers of Jesus, we no longer understand what it means to fast. For many of us we do not know how to wait. For many of us we pervert the fast into methods of control and means of power. But a fast is to wait, to sacrifice, and to give oneself for the benefit of others. It is disciplining ourselves so that when the trials come we can face them without sin, not because we are that good, but because we love God and know that he loves us. It is in this waiting, meditation, contemplation, fasting, and listen that we find the answers we seek the wisdom and light springing from the very spirit of God.  It is in that place we can find acceptance of the situations around us, and the strength to face the challenges that threaten to break our stretched lives apart. Jesus knows the trials we face because He has faced them. He knows the pains we feel because He too has felt them. He knows and is the way through and forward. Let us now wait with Him as he waits with us during His own fast. Let us draw on His strength as he faces his trials and as we face our own. And let us know that God does know us, He knows our pain and our weaknesses, He knows our desires and our needs, and He loves us. Let us rest in His love and accept that through our relationship with Him we will find all that we truly need.

Illumination on the Dark Path (Sermon March 2, 2014)

Scripture: 2 Peter 1:16-21

Today more than any other our faith is challenged. It is challenged in the realms of science, as things once believed as being miracles are understood as basic medicines. If you read through history what was once known as Jesuit Powder, was thought to be magic due to its ability to relieve the fevers of the plague. This magical powder was expensive and hard to find in the dark days of historical Europe, but today it is not nearly as magical or miraculous when some of us take it daily for small aches and pains or our low dose aspirin to prevent a potential stroke. Our faith is challenged and it is thought to be some sort of fairy tale told to children to get them to behave. It seem as if our current era of history is faced with the most unique challenges because those before have never had to fight a foe so cunning as the contemporary man.

History would prove us wrong if we were to really look into it. Sure the advancing technology of today provides greater access to knowledge that was once only available to those able to afford higher learning, but in every era of history in every culture the gospel met there have been those that possessed higher learning. The Magi of ancient Persia were not merely stage magicians but were the most educated people of their day, with knowledge of herbal remedies, the movement of the stars, and mathematics. The same could be said of the Gaelic Druids, or the Greek philosophers each group offering a different challenge to those that went to the ends of the earth to present the Good News of the Kingdom of God.

Peter faced these wise men of the world when he went out on his missionary journeys; journeys that tradition says took him to the very streets of Rome where he was crucified upside down for the sake of the Gospel. “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ…” When we hear the word myth our minds wonder to the realms of Hercules or the great, lost city of Atlantis, we see them as elaborate and fictitious stories craftily spoken in the epic presentations of Homer. A myth is a story or legend that portrays a lesson or a commonly held belief, by definition the scripture we hold very dear in our faith is mythology. Now relax the muscles of your backs because I know you all just tensed up thinking that I just said that scripture is fiction, but that is not at all what I said. A myth is a story that portrays a lesson or belief. Peter is saying that we did not follow cleverly devised myths; in saying this he is saying that he is telling a story to portray a lesson, but that the story of Jesus is different than other myths.

To those he was speaking to the accounts presented to them by this man seemed just as far fetched as the travels of Achilles, Ajax, and Odysseus, the difference was that Peter saw these things with his own eyes, a feat that Homer could never claim since he was blind. “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made know to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” At best the stories relayed to us by Homer are questionable because he did not see the things of which he wrote about. Although archeologists have been able to locate the city of Troy using his writings the descriptions given of the characters were exaggerated by the imagination of a man that was using words to express images he could not see to people with full sensory capacity. Peter could see though, and that is why he says we did not follow cleverly devised myths, but were eyewitnesses.

Peter saw something that changed him, he saw something that caused him to leave the comfort of his home to give an account of this to people he did not know. What did he see that caused such a radical shift in the life of a simple fisherman? He saw the embodiment of all knowledge shining before him.

Peter wrote this letter to followers of Jesus throughout the known world. We do not know if these believers were Jewish or Gentiles, but we can gather that these believers have an understanding of both cultures. These believes know of the mythology of the Hellenistic world as well as the history of the Hebrew people. He is also speaking to people that have already heard him give an account of the life of Jesus. The event that Peter speaks about today is the day Jesus took him, James, and John up on a mountain to pray. While they were on that holy mountain they saw Jesus standing talking to Moses and Elijah while Jesus was illuminated as if he were the sun.

This one event caused Peter to look at the world from a different perspective. Moses in the Hebrew culture is the lawgiver; Wisdom came to mankind from God through Moses. It is said that when Moses was with God his face shone, and as time passed it would become dimmer. This dimming light caused Moses to wear a veil over his face because it was a distraction to those around him. Because of this account light became a symbol to represent knowledge and wisdom from God. Throughout all of Jewish history even to this very day the first five books of the bible are considered the most important because the very person that spoke to God, whose face the light of God enlightened, wrote these books.

Elijah is also a very important figure in the Hebrew culture. Elijah is considered the greatest Prophet of God, because he was a man that did not taste the sting of death but was carried away in a chariot of fire, or light. According to tradition Elijah will return just prior to the coming of the Messiah or the Christ, bringing with him the new age. The books of the prophets are considered the second most important section of the Hebrew scriptures, because they were written by men who were directed by the Spirit of God to highlight areas of the Law mankind allowed to become dim.

These two figures represent the totality of Jewish wisdom, the Law and the Prophets. On top of that Holy Mountain Peter saw the representatives of the totality of his faith conversing with Jesus. The lawgiver whose face would shine and the prophet who was carried away in a chariot of light were standing before him, speaking to Jesus who was the one filled with light. Before his very eyes he was seeing all wisdom and knowledge being encapsulated into the man Jesus. To him this very event was telling him that the light that shone in the face of Moses the lawgiver was the light of Jesus, and the chariot that carried away the great prophet was Jesus. Jesus is the embodiment of all knowledge and wisdom of God, making the teaching of Jesus greater than and fulfilling the teaching of all that was before.

This is powerful. All the laws point to Jesus, all the oracles of the prophets’ point to Jesus, every myth, story, and person in his history pointed to Jesus. Jesus the man he saw perform miraculous signs, the one that healed his own mother-in-law who was laying on her death bed, could do these things because Jesus is the very essences of God, the light in the darkness. Peter is telling those who will listen that all knowledge and power come not from clever stories devised by man, but from Jesus.

This leads into the second portion of today’s scripture. “So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as a lamp shining in a dark place…” Prophetic messages, like myth, hold an often-misunderstood meaning in our minds. When one thinks of prophetic utterances we immediately think of people who can speak to us about the future, or a holy fortuneteller. This, of course, is part of the office of a prophet, but is not the totality of what they do. A prophet is a speaker of truth, a light bearer to those that would prefer to live in the shadows of a lie. Remember that Peter was saying that Jesus is the source of all knowledge and wisdom of God, that Jesus is the very Word of which all the writings of the Law and Prophets speak. So let us then look deeper at the prophetic message that is more fully confirmed.

The phrase “lamp shining,” is to cause things to become visible, made known, appear, appear to be, and shine. The “dark place” is a place, passage, task, position, possibility, or people without light, gloomy and miserable. So this prophetic message could say, “You will do well to be alert for a passage to become visible through the gloomy, unknown, and miserable situations.” I do not know about you but that to me says that life sucks and Jesus can help us through it. That if we diligently seek Jesus that He will allow the wisdom to shine through and give us a direction to walk.

Peter ends this section by saying that prophecy does not come by our own will but comes by men and women being moved by the Holy Spirit. How then does this light dawn in our lives? In many ways Peter is telling the believers that we must follow Jesus, to take on His lifestyle of worship, prayer, and service. Because it is in prayer and worship that we will begin to see hope through the misery to begin our service.

The spiritual practices of Friends, the meetings for clearness and the times of holy expectancy point to this, the waiting on the Lord in our meetings for business are times where we wait together for the Spirit of God to shine through a situation so that we can move forward through the passageway that was once filled with the gloomy darkness of uncertainty. The problem is that often we do not want to wait; often we feel we have waited too long already and decide by taking the path that seems right in our own minds. Often we assume we already have the knowledge. By doing this we run the risk of following the cleverly devised myths of man. The question also is raised how do we know when the way forward is from God? That comes the study. Through study we gain the knowledge of both man and God, and we discern through scripture and especially through the teachings of Jesus who is the Word of God

This lifestyle is not easy, in fact is one of the most difficult aspects of life. There are challenges all around us that distract us from this way of truth. Just this week as I attempted to center and prepare for worship, my mind dwelled on the conflicts in Ukraine. My heart cries for these people because I lived among them for a short time. Part of me wants our government to do something, to go defend the people, and part of me wants us to stand back and instead promote peace in other ways. This has become challenge to my faith, and a distraction on the pathway God has been leading me down. But in this miserable gloominess God has been teaching me and shining His light through the darkness. I have become more aware of the injustices that I myself have perpetuated, and have been lead to confession and repentance. Just as Peter was an eyewitness to the majesty of Christ, I have been an eyewitness to the hope that God can shine into the darkness. I can bear witness in my own life and in the experiences of the meetings I have participated in that God will provide the way forward if will allow Him to work through us. Though the future may seem grim, though it may seem as if there is no reason to carry on I stand before you saying that we have never had a greater opportunity than we have today to be bearers of truth and light in our world today. The dawn is coming and the bright morning star is rising in our hearts, so let us be ever more diligent to become a people loving God in worship, embracing the Holy Spirit in Prayer, and being obedient to our callings as we live the love of Christ with others.