VBS: The Light Shines in the Darkness...


“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not defeated it.” John 1:5

You might think that the most-repeated command in the Bible is “Do not sin….” Actually, “Do not fear,” and its sibling command to have hope, appear many more times than anything about sin—I count at least 103 times the Bible says, “Do not fear!” In the end, I’m sure that the opposite of faith is not unbelief, but fear.

Fear paralyzes us, fear causes us to be blinded to the humanity of others, and, most importantly, fear destroys hope. Christian hope is not optimism—not a childish wish-fulfillment dream that we’ll get a magic wand and, poof, everything will be pink and blue flowers. Christian hope is a life lived in the certain knowledge that although there is darkness, the Light of God will never be put out, and eventually the earth will be filled with the light and glory of God as the waters cover the sea.

Think about the best “children’s” literature and movies—The Lion King…Harry Potter…The Lord of the Rings…A Wrinkle in Time…Star Wars…These timeless stories all have as their underlying theme something like Christian hope that sees a way forward through the world’s darkness. Here’s the full quote of Sam’s words to Frodo that Fr. Bob mentioned in his sermon on Sunday:

Sam: It’s like in the great stories Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered.
Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn’t want to know the end.
Because how could the end be happy.
How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad happened.
But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow.
Even darkness must pass. A new day will come.
And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer.
Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something.
Even if you were too small to understand why.
But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now.
Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t.
Because they were holding on to something.

Frodo: What are we holding on to, Sam?
Sam: That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.

“There’s some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for”—how many times do we hear something just like this from St. Paul in his letters encouraging all those fledgling churches struggling to be faithful in the darkness of the Roman Empire?

And speaking of St. Paul: In the final Harry Potter book, there is a very emotional scene when Harry and Hermoine are in Godric’s Hollow and they find the grave of Harry’s parents. The tombstone has this verse from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, “The last enemy that will be destroyed is death” (1 Cor 15:26). This is the cornerstone and wellspring of our Christian hope.

Our children today live in a world where it is impossible to ignore the darkness all around us—how can it be ignored when they have drills in their schools for active shooting preparation? Our job as teachers, parents, mentors, and role models is to be the Sam to their Frodo—to tell them with our words and show them with our actions that the darkness will not win. They need to know that, yes, the world is sometimes scary, and, yes, sometimes there are awful things that happen—but this is not the world God wants for us, and, through hope, we can find the strength to follow Jesus and do the work of helping to shine His Light in every dark corner we find, shining brighter and brighter as we wait for the glorious day that will never end.

Remember: the Book of Revelation does not end with the earth being burned to a cinder—it ends with the earth being redeemed and reborn, restored to God’s original design (emphasis below mine):

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and God will dwell with them, and they shall be God’s people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

Do not fear! Have hope! The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not defeated it!

Keith+

(Thanks to Canon Elizabeth Easton for the photo!)


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