Welcoming More Light Into Our Lives

“We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work.”  – Jesus (John 9:4}

lent and easter

In our own time, having light on demand at the flick of a switch is the expectation rather than the exception.   However, for most of humanity’s existence, seasonal availability of light had a profound impact on activity and quality of life.  The lengthening of days in early spring was something to be anticipated and celebrated.  It is the origin of both an early English name for Spring, /encten,  and the church season of Lent.

This year, as you prepare for Lent, I encourage you to consider new ways to welcome Christ’s light into your life.

We often associate Lent with rituals of self-denial such as fasting. That is especially true here in Eastern Pennsylvania where fasnachts, originally made to empty the pantry of sugars and fats forbidden during Lenten fasts, still are a favorite annual offering.  A Biblical basis for this traditional Lenten practice is found in the story of Jesus fasting for forty days in the wilderness while being tempted by Satan. (See Mark 1 :12-13} .

Over the centuries, countless persons have deepened their relationship with Christ through these means. Yet any practice or discipline which draws you closer to God can be a means of Lenten spiritual enlightenment. For instance, you might …

  • make a commitment to do one intentional act of kindness for each of Lent’s forty days,
  • vow to spend 10 minutes in prayer each morning before work, at lunch, or in the evening before going to sleep,
  • commit to setting aside change to give to the church or other charitable cause,
  • vow not to make insensitive, cruel, or judgmental comments about persons during the days of Lent, or
  • take a step of faith and volunteer for a church activity or mission

Whatever you do, be aware that spiritual enlightenment  is much more like the natural, gradual increase of daylight minute by minute each day than it is the sudden flood of artificial light which comes at the flick of a switch.  Patience is not only a virtue; it is also a fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Seeking a Life in Truth

Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”  (The Gospel of John, 8:31-32)

Sincere followers of Jesus Christ seek to live a life grounded in truth, for Christ is himself the embodiment of God’s truth. The quest for truth is often personally costly. The eternal struggle between God’s truth and the lies and hatred of the world are laid bare in an exchange between Pontius Pilate and Jesus which occurs during our Savior’s sham trial: Jesus: “… For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate asked him, “What is truth?”(John 18:37-38)

Christ Before Pilate, Duccio Buoninsegna

Christ Before Pilate, Duccio Buoninsegna

Pilate is no seeker after truth, but rather cynically sees what others call “truth” as a matter of personal perspective or practical expediency. Christ is crucified as “King of the Jews,” not because Pilate believes that Jesus is the Messiah, but rather because doing so is politically convenient. In ordering Christ be crucified, Pilate curries the favor of the mob clamoring for Jesus’ death while winning the approval of both Jewish leaders and Caesar. It’s a good deal for him all the way round.

Pilate’s self-serving behavior contrasts starkly with the lives of those who earnestly seek truth. Such seekers understand that truth consists of more than statements which accord with the facts or with reality. Ultimately, truth is teleological – that is, it pertains to the purpose of life. As such, truth directs our relationship with others and shapes our ethics and worldview.

Seek the truth, listen to the truth, learn the truth, love the truth, speak the truth, adhere to truth and defend truth to the death.Jon Hus

Two such truth-seeking persons with ties to Bethlehem area Moravians are the 15th century Czech priest and reformer, John Hus, and his 20th century countryman, the late Václav Havel. In seeking to reform the church, John Hus wrote: “Seek the truth, listen to the truth, learn the truth, love the truth, speak the truth, adhere to truth and defend truth to the death.” As a priest, Hus was concerned that certain church practices endangered the souls of those God entrusted to its care. Specifically he was opposed to the selling of indulgences by the Roman church to pay for a crusade against other Christians and to bishops selling priestly offices. Hus insisted that priests be qualified, godly persons capable of preaching the gospel and caring for their parishioners. Hus’ pursuit of reform cut into the profits of those in power. This won him the enmity of ecclesiastic and secular leaders. Hus’ own search for truth ended on July 6, 1415, when he was burned at the stake after refusing to renounce what he believed was true. A group of his followers formed the early Moravian Church.

Like Hus, the late Václav Havel also paid a steep price for pursuing a life in truth. As a dissident in Communist Czechoslovakia, he was repeatedly imprisoned. In spite of such opposition, Havel clung to his vision that “Truth and love must prevail over lies and hatred.” Fortunately, Havel outlasted the authoritarian regime and emerged to become president of his nation. In October of 1991, Havel visited Bethlehem, re-dedicated Moravian College’s statue of Jan Amos Comenius, and received that institution’s highest honor, the Comenius Medallion.

Like Hus before him, Havel realized that living a life in truth involves courageous introspection both as individuals and as a society. A little over a year before he visited the Lehigh Valley Havel wrote: We have become morally ill, because we have become accustomed to saying one thing and thinking another. We have learned not to believe in anything, not to care about one another and only to look after ourselves. Notions such as love, friendship, compassion, humility and forgiveness have lost their depth and dimension, and for many of us they …appear as some kind of stray relic from times past … (“The Great Moral Stake of the Moment”, New Year’s Address by Václav Havel, 1990)

In short, as he surveyed his society, Havel saw many who we would identify as having chosen the cynical, self-serving way of Pilate rather than the redemptive example of Christ. We fool ourselves, and the truth is not in us if we think the moral challenges Havel noted are reserved for societies emerging from communist rule. It is the challenge of our own time and of every generation.

  • Pastor Derek French

Clothed With Christ

“As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”

clothed in christ

When a Moravian pastor officiates at Holy Communion he or she often wears a specially made white robe (surplice). Its flowing white design with wide sleeves calls to mind the white robes in the book of Revelation. Its purpose is to remind worshipers of heaven and to show that the pastor is representing Christ when administering the sacraments of baptism and Holy Communion. The ritual of robing reminds pastors that they, together with all baptized believers, are to “clothe themselves with Christ.”

In offering himself as a willing sacrifice to atone for the sins of all humanity, Jesus fulfilled the demands of righteous justice while embodying divine grace. Clothing ourselves with Christ means that, in spite of our sinful nature we are able to approach God without fear of rejection, trusting in God’s forgiveness of sin through the sacrificial life, death and resurrection of Jesus. A hymn in the Moravian liturgy for burial expresses this well:

The Savior’s blood and righteousness, my beauty is, my glorious dress; thus well-arrayed I need not fear when in his presence I appear.

Because our lives, our souls, have been redeemed by God, we are free to respond by choosing a new focus for our lives. We clothe ourselves with Christ as disciples of the Lord. Our goal should be to become just a bit more Jesus-like each day. Therefore …

  • We exhibit love for others, even those with whom we vehemently disagree, because “God is love,” and “Whoever does not love does not know God,” (I John 4:8)
  • Knowing ourselves to be less than perfect and in need of God’s forgiveness, we forgive others’ sins, as we trust God will forgive our sins. (Matthew 6:12)
  • Similarly, we refrain from judgment for that is God’s task. The Apostle James echoes our Savior’s teaching when he writes: “So who then, are you to judge your neighbor?” (James 4:12)
  • In speaking with others, we choose our words carefully knowing that “a harsh word stirs up anger,” and that only a “perverse person spreads strife” through gossip. (Proverbs 15:1, 16:28)
  • Whatever material goods God has entrusted to us as individuals or a congregation, we invest to build up the Kingdom of God and help draw others closer to Christ for we know that one day we will have to account for our stewardship. (Matthew 25:29-30)

As we continue deeper into the New Year, resolve to clothe yourself with Christ.

 

What Does God Want For You This Christmas?

Do a web search or open any study Bible and it is pretty clear what Christians believe God wants from you, but what is it that God wants for you? Jesus provides an answer in his parable of the good shepherd: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” That Jesus is speaking of spiritual rather than material realities should be clear when we consider the evidence of his own life.

nativity

Gerard van Honthorst, “Adoration of the Shepherds”

For the One born in a manger, abundant life “does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Neither does it consist of a multitude of friends, social prominence or freedom from affliction. From birth, our Savior was intended to be “a suffering servant,” a “man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” Just eight days into Jesus’ life the “righteous and devout” Simeon revealed to Mary that “a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

So what then is this “abundant life” of which Jesus speaks? Abundant life is authentic life; it is living into the promise of God’s creation of humanity in God’s own image. It is sharing in the copious blessings of God’s own life. God became human so that those who follow Christ “… may become participants of the divine nature.” In his writings on 2 Peter Irenaeus (c. AD 130-220) wrote: God “became what we are in order to make us what God is.” Abundant life, authentic life, eternal life is ours when we accept God’s “…precious and very great promises …” embodied in the birth of our Savior.

That is what God wants for each of us – not only at Christmas – but every day of our lives.

The great Advent and Christmas hymns of Western Christian tradition celebrate the birth of Jesus by focusing on that from which Christ saves us. “He comes to break oppression, to set the captive free.” He brings the light of redemption into the world, releasing us “from our fears and sins” that “the powers of hell may vanish as the darkness clears away.” Few of our familiar hymns meditate on that destiny for which God saves us.

Will you accept God’s Christmas gift to you?

Will you embrace God’s desire for your life in the coming year?

-Pastor Derek French

Bible quotes referenced from John 10:10; Luke 12:15; Isaiah 53; Luke 2:35; Genesis 1:27; 2 Peter 1:4.

Resurrection Now And Hereafter

(Regarding her brother, Lazarus) Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” (The Gospel of John 11: 24-26). Do you believe this?

Noel Coypel resurrection of christ

“The Resurrection Of Christ” 1700, Noël Coypel [Public domain]

The Resurrection lies at the center of Christian life, faith and hope. For the Apostle Paul, God’s raising of Christ affirmed the redemptive nature of Jesus’ death on the cross and served as a conclusive declaration that Jesus was the Son of God. (Romans 1:3-4) Christ’s resurrection is the lens through which his followers interpret his life and teaching. For that reason, Christians around the world gather in sanctuaries and graveyards, on mountains, and seashores each Easter to proclaim God’s victory over the power of sin and death and God’s promise of eternal life with the words, “The Lord is risen.”

Yet the Resurrection is not just a hope deferred until our death or the death of a loved one. If we so choose, it can be an everyday reality shaping all aspects of our lives. We can look within and around us to discern where God is bringing about new life. Only as we do so do Jesus’ words to Martha begin to make sense: “everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” Elsewhere Jesus says: “This is eternal life; that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)

  • How is God working within you to bring about new life? – A resurrection of spirit?
  • How is God working within those around you to bring about new life?
  • How is God working within God’s church to bring about new life?
  • How is God working throughout the world to bring about new life?

Of course, in order to perceive the action of God, one must first believe such action is possible. At first Martha could not believe when Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” (John 11:23). The truth was too good to be true. But with God, all things are possible. Jesus said: “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”

Do you believe this? Do you live this belief?

– Pastor Derek French

On Being Lazarus

Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

lazarus

Raising of Lazarus, Jacapo Tintoretto, 1558

Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”
(John 11: 21-26)

I suspect that from time to time we each wish God would free us from the necessity of facing death and wonder why God does not do so. Martha’s pained awords of loss after the death of her brother, Lazarus, echo in our hearts even if they do not escape our lips. The fantasy of God whisking persons off to heaven in whirlwind and chariot of fire like Elijah or the prospect of Christ descending in glory, heralded by archangels’ trumpets, and being lifted to meet Him are equally appealing. Yet our experience has more in common with that of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus than that of Elijah or those living at Christ’s Second Coming. Followers of Jesus may not be “of” this world (i.e. shaped by its values) but we continue to live in this world and so must deal with its adversity.

While faith in Christ does not remove us from this world or free us from its tribulations, it can sustain us and point to a reality beyond present circumstances. That’s what happened in Martha’s case. She knew Lazarus had been dead in his tomb for four days. Through grieving and hurt by Jesus’ delay she still made a powerful profession of faith the equal of St. Peter’s: “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God …” Elsewhere in the Gospel of John, Jesus defines eternal life as a quality of existence characterized by relationship with God rather as a limitless number of years. By that measure Martha is already living eternal life. She is connected to God through Jesus Christ. Though Martha’s body may die – like that of her brother – she (her truest self) will not. Martha “gets it;” many of those watching when Jesus raises Lazarus do not. They are so fixated on the miraculous physical restoring of life that they miss the deeper truth Jesus is trying to convey. There is more to life than material existence and more to us than a physical body. Jesus said: “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”

Do you believe this?

Too Bright to See God?

When I was a little kid I could go into my backyard at night and see the starry band of the Milky Way galaxy stretched out across the sky. Yet before I reached high school, light from the city, local ball parks, and newly lit Interstate exchanges had bleached out the night sky. Only the moon and the brightest stars were visible through this “light pollution.”

The Gospel of John uses the metaphor of light to describe Christ’s victory over the world’s sin and suffering: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” (1:5) This is a statement of faith that even when circumstances prevent us from feeling God’s presence, God remains with us.

Christians have long known that painful experiences can “dim” one’s perception of God. Yet even wholesome interests and activities can become a source of “spiritual light pollution” when they distract us from God. The problem is not the interests and activities themselves, it is their relative importance in our lives.

Each of the stars in the Milky Way is millions of times brighter than any of the lights on earth that wash out the stars’ light in the night sky. Yet the lights on earth are closer to us – and so they appear brighter. We cannot move ourselves closer to the stars but we can move ourselves closer to God. We can insure that none of our interests or activities in closer to our “center” than the light of Christ which shines in the darkness.

Are there interests or activities in your life that have moved between yourself and God?