November 27

Day 258: Let There Be Light

Way way back, when everything was without form and void, "darkness was over the face of the deep." (Genesis 1) So God's  very first act of creation was to speak light into existence. He just gave the word, and the lights turned on.

God liked what He had just done. And then God "separated the light from the darkness." This gave us Day and Night. But even the night was given a light source. The moon, though not as bright as the sun. On purpose. God wanted us to know the difference.

Meanwhile, many many centuries later, we Alaskans get confused, especially this time of year. Sometimes the day is as dark as night. With Covid restrictions, it all seems to run together anyway.

Only here are holiday lights called "winter lights," which gives us permission to keep them up for the next 6 months. Or like our neighbors, year round.

We Alaskans are also confused, because it can be hard at times to see the difference between God's people, and everybody else. It can seem like, this year, the darkness has been winning, like the light will never turn back on again.

It's in seeing the separation of light and dark, day and night, that we were created to see and long for. And, experience tells us (if our chosen news sources haven't already) that even though the lights in the sky may be on that day, the people below can continue to live in darkness. Without form. Void. Void of hope.

God seems to give light to convey hope. God spoke to a judged, frightened and oppressed people when, though Isaiah, God said: "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shown."

God spoke it, and so it came to be. Quite some time after Isaiah, God brought the light. Shepherds out working in the dark one night were startled as "an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear." (Luke 2)

This was big light, a light so bright it could cause fear, even more so than the fear of being alone in the dark. Once again, God had pierced the darkness with His light.

Jesus the promised Messiah was the light to whom those called unto Him would be separated from their former darkness. To live in His light. Given hope, where otherwise there was none.

But it doesn't rest with that. While we await His return, when the light of His judgment and glory will shine as never before, we are called to be His light to our presently if not increasingly dark world.

In Matthew 5:14 Jesus made it clear. "You are lights of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden." We are each lights in the darkness. As a church, we cannot, must not be hidden.

Today, Deb and I will begin listening to holiday music (exclusively, because I love her) for the next month. We will go collect our Christmas decorations from storage. We will do stuff inside our house. And maybe get to the outside lights too.

All the while, I will content myself with pondering Jesus, the light of (for) the world. The light that has separated His own from the darkness. Coming full circle. God again spoke it, and it was so. "Let there be light!"

-Mike Rydman, Lead Pastor, Radiant Church Juneau