Ephesians 2: 1-10

John 3: 11-21

March 10, 2024

Rev. Dr. Galen E. Russell III

“… the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light...”

Prayer:  Let your light so shine, O Lord, in our hearts, in our lives, in our world, as we follow you.  Amen.

Everyone OK this morning?  Little tired?  Little sleepy?  That lost hour of sleep for some people really messes them up.  One woman said it takes her two weeks to get her circadian rhythm back in sync when daylight savings time starts.  Another woman cherished DST.  She was like, “Oh yes, more daylight.  Longer days.  Hallelujah!”  How many of you like daylight savings time?   How many of your find it messes with you?

Well, experts know that light is critical for good brain health.  Some people, in the dead of winter suffer from SAD (seasonal affect disorder) when the days have the least amount of daylight, which can cause depression.  So, when DST starts and the days get longer, that is good for them.

But, darkness is needed, too.  One year in late May, Barb and I went to Iceland.  And it was still daylight at 2 a.m.!  Talk about messing with you!  All the hotel curtains had to be the room darkening kind in order to sleep.  So, all of us need darkness and light in a healthy, balanced way.

The gospel of John frequently refers to Jesus as Light.  Light as in God’s truth.  Specifically, in Jesus, God’s light came into the world.  As John wrote “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world” (John 1: 9).  So we see emitting from Jesus the truth of God.  John wants us to understand that light is a metaphor for God’s way, God’s presence, God’s influence, God’s power, God’s love, God’s truth in our lives and in our world. Nothing new here.

But the thing that struck me this week was the negativity surrounding the metaphor of darkness in the scripture.  How it is bad.  And represents untruth and evil and hatred.  How it leads to condemnation.

And very unfortunately, this negativity spills into how we judge people.  Antisemitism, racism and bigotry are fueled if there isn’t a critical review of this passage and the metaphor of darkness.  Christian superiority and exceptionalism bubble up out of the negative use of darkness.  All of which must be denounced as unworthy of following Jesus, unworthy of reflecting God’s truth and light.

I think it’s important for us to understand that light and darkness are equal parts of God’s truth.  They’re the ying and yang of God.  The complete circle of God’s nature.  When John says ‘the light of God,’ he means the fullness of God’s truth in Jesus, light and darkness together.

Because some pretty important God-things happen in darkness, wouldn’t you say?  I mean our universe started out in the void of darkness.  And then in the Big Bang, it was like, “Let there be light!”  Darkness and daylight are necessary. Night turns to day, and day turns to night.  Babies are formed in the womb of darkness.  And then in birth, light enters their eyes.  At Christmastime, poinsettias need 8 weeks of darkness in order to bloom, something I could never get to happen.  Even Nicodemus came to Jesus under the cover of darkness and learned God’s truth that one must be born of the Spirit, which is essentially living in God’s light.

So, it almost goes without saying that this light of God, this fullness of God-light and God-darkness in our lives is absolutely critical for good, balanced, spiritual health.

So, as we follow Jesus, I invite us to be Light Lovers, people who love God, in all of God’s fullness.  People who believe God, which is more important than believing in God.  To believe God implies relationship.  With trust, faith.  To believe in God often is no more than just a thought.  Let us be people who believe Jesus, which likewise, is better than just believing in Jesus.  Can we be people who love Jesus, believe Jesus, and follow Jesus as the light of the world?

And not the things of the earth.  Which, let’s be honest, are usually our things and not God-things.  I mean I take the words “people loved the darkness rather than the light” to mean that we often love our stuff, our ways, our desires, more than we love God or God’s ways.  Our pride, our egos, our selfishness, our snarky attitudes, our deeply embedded biases, our desires… we love these and often don’t want to give them up.  But these can get in the way of God’s light.

Back in 1986, a Catholic-Lutheran ecumenical community called Spirit of Grace was established in Beaverton, Oregon.  It had the backing of both Lutheran and Catholic church leaders, including the three previous Archbishops of the Catholic diocese.  The community has long celebrated a joint liturgy of the word with a Lutheran pastor and Catholic priest both presiding.  Lutherans and Catholics would then separate into two different areas for the liturgy of mass, aka Holy Communion, which I find weird and dis-unifying, but whatever.  But then along comes a new Archbishop, who finds out that on the Spirit of Grace website there is language about being all-inclusive and welcoming.  So, the new Archbishop barred all priests from celebrating mass at the Spirit of Grace church causing much shock and grief within their faith community. The love of ideas can easily get in the way of God’s light.

See, we can lean into our own religious understandings and get out of the intimate light of God.  Or, we can lean into God’s light and walk in that light, be part of what God is doing to bring people together.  We have the power to choose God’s light in our lives, or to choose the darkness of our own making.  We can love Jesus as the fullness of God’s light in the world and be Light Lovers, or we can love our own darkness rather than light.

But know this, dear Church, my beloved ones, God’s light, in all its fullness, God’s love in all its radiance is so expansive that it is not dependent upon our choices, our perfection, even our love of the darkness we choose and don’t want to give up.

No, God’s light and love are gifts from God.  Because it is God’s good pleasure to give these gifts.  Because God, it seems to me, wants to show us the immeasurable riches God’s abundant grace.  God wants us to see the extraordinary path to a life that is whole and lasting and meaningful.

That path takes us through the sacrifice that God makes in the darkness of the cross so that we might walk in the light of God’s deep healing and saving grace.  That we might love the light of God in all its fullness and clearly live our lives emitting God’s love and light from us.

Let us follow Jesus, lift high the cross, and proclaim the love of God in Christ.  Please stand as we conclude our worship of God in Christ today.  Amen.