The Creator of Light

Every good gift, every perfect gift, comes from above. These gifts come down from the Father, the creator of the heavenly lights, in whose character there is no change at all. ¹⁸ He chose to give us birth by his true word, and here is the result: we are like the first crop from the harvest of everything he created.
James 1:17-18 (NRSVue)

It has been awhile since I updated this blog because I had lost access to log into it. Today, however, I was able to get back in, so here comes another blog post from your occasionally intrepid pastor.

God has given birth to us. Isn’t that an odd thing to think about? Didn’t our mothers give birth to us? The answer is yes, but God has given birth to us again.

When we were first born, whether it was in a hospital, a house, or somewhere else entirely, the first thing we likely saw upon birth with our tiny infant eyes was light. We were, by the process of birth, transferred from darkness into light. We transitioned from seeing nothing to being able to see everything. Though we were too young and too new to the world to be able to process and understand anything we were seeing, we saw light being reflected by objects and we saw the shapes and the textures of the world, and it was light that made such perception possible. It is God who has given us the good gift of life and sight. God, who created the heavenly lights, gives us life again in the new birth.

In the new birth, God the Creator transitions us once again from darkness into light. Before, we were lost. Now, we are found. We were blind, but now we see. It is the life of joy and peace that we sing about in the well-known hymn I am now referencing. God has birthed us into this new life.

Because this new life is new, we might not perceive everything the way we should when we first experience the new birth. We see the light, and the things upon which that light is now shed that we could not see before, but in the beginning we often only see the shapes and the textures, not really understanding this new view God has given us of the world. As we continue to grow in grace, God the Creator of lights illumines more and more of our world, so that we gradually come to see the world from the perspective God had intended for us all along.

May you continue to grow in the love and grace of the God of light, so that God’s light may shine into the darkness through you.

AMEN

Sticking Out Like A Sore Thumb

In those days, John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.'”

Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
Matthew 3:1-11 (NRSV)

This is the first blog update in a few weeks because of my inability to login and access the website. Thankfully, we have that fixed and now I can get back to regular weekly updates.

By the standards of people in first century Judea, John the Baptist was a weirdo. He stuck out like a sore thumb. I don’t know the exact origins of the idiom “stick out like a sore thumb,” but it usually is used to describe something that is clearly out of place and does not match its surroundings. John the Baptist certainly fit that description. He did not seem concerned with making himself look like other people. He did not seem concerned with acting like other people. Instead, he was focused on his mission to “prepare the way of the Lord.”

When the Pharisees and Sadducees showed up, he did not cut them any slack. He called them a “brood of vipers” (think “den of snakes”) and proceeded to tell them how the cow ate the cabbage, so to speak. John the Baptist doesn’t sound like the shining example of how to win friends and influence people, yet people from all over the countryside were coming to him for baptism in the Jordan.

What was his secret? Well, he was following God’s calling on his life for one thing. Another thing is that he was singularly focused on his mission. One of the most important things about John the Baptist though is that he was not afraid to just be himself.

He wasn’t weird just because of what he wore as clothing or what he ate as food. John was weird because, in a world of so many people who were so concerned with keeping up appearances, John just went along being his authentic self.

How often do we just allow ourselves to be our authentic selves? What kind of pressures do we face in life to present ourselves in a certain way? Who has God created us to be and how are we reflecting that to the world?

There is an old movie from the 80’s called “The Breakfast Club.” I’m sure you’ve seen it. Some teenagers get stuck in detention together after school and the whole movie is about how they relate to each other and the trouble they get themselves, and each other, into before they are allowed to leave. Each character is unique, and each one presents to the other as her or his authentic self. Through doing so they gain new understandings of each other and are changed in ways that make them better people. When John the Baptist preached repentance, from the Greek word metanoia meaning “change of heart and life”, what if he was telling the people, at least in part, to stop pretending and just be who God created them to be? That’s what John was doing. That’s what Jesus did.

Let us go with the confidence of children of God and do the same. Amen.

Inheritance

¹¹ In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will,¹² so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.¹³ In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit;¹⁴ this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory. ¹⁵ I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason¹⁶ I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.¹⁷ I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him,¹⁸ so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints,¹⁹ and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.²⁰ God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,²¹ far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.²² And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church,²³ which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Ephesians 1:11-23 (NRSV)

Today is All Saints’ Day. In the Church we remember all the saints, especially those who have died and gone on to become part of that “great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 11 and 12) by whom we are surrounded and who have fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith.

As we look around at the empty pews in our church, we sometimes can still see those saints who once sat in them. We think of all they did to serve God through the church. We remember their faces and their voices. They may not be with us in a physical sense anymore, but we remember them and they are still with us in a very real sense. We are reminded by this week’s text from Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus that Christ has set up an inheritance for us. These saints we remember this week have received the fullness of that promised inheritance and now serve in the throne room of God in everlasting peace and life.

May we be inspired to serve as they did here in this time and place, that we may one day be reunited with them as we, too, receive the fullness of the inheritance of Christ the Lord, and join that great cloud of witnesses to sing once again with the saints of light.