The Fragment In Between
Psalm 27:1, 4-9
Matthew 4:12-23
Have you ever been afraid of the dark? I remember I was as a kid. I didn’t want to go to sleep, especially in my own bed. With the light off, my bedroom was really dark. I thought at the time that the thick darkness of my room made it easier for the monsters to sneak in and get me. Of course, there were the snakes living under my bed, too, that only came out in the dark. A night light helped to lessen the grip this fear had on me.
The dark is very scary. The night time has always held a certain level of creepiness and fear; it has always been associated with scary creatures, ghosts and horror stories. Some believe it is in the dark of night when evil spirits would emerge and haunt the lives of the living.
If you have ever had to navigate through a totally dark room, you know what a trying experience it can be. As you take one step at a time, you grope through the dark, carefully looking for a safe spot to step. You’re bound to either stub your toe on the bed post, impale your foot on a Buzz Light Year doll left in the middle of the floor, or slam your head on a shelf of some kind as you trip over your child’s Thomas Train set.
The dark is scary and uncertain because you simply can’t see anything. You’re blind. You can’t see where you are going. Sometimes it can be so dark you can’t even see your hand directly in front of your face. To be blind and living in the dark is a very frightening place to be.
I heard a story about a man in Ecuador who later became president of that country and his experience in prison. He was arrested for leading protests against the government. He was locked away in a small cell isolated from human contact with no light and no window. For over three days he sat in his cell in total darkness on the brink of going completely mad. On the fourth day, a man quietly came into his cell and began working on something in one of the dark corners. He didn’t say anything. He crept out, closed the door and disappeared. A few minutes later a light began to blaze in that corner. Someone put their life on the line to connect electricity to the broken fixture. The prisoner knew he could make it through his imprisonment because he could see again. The light not only illuminated his space but it also brought hope to his heart.
So many of us live in the darkness of an old jail cell, some in total darkness and don’t even know it. We find ourselves trying to overcome the darkness with darkness; trying to pull ourselves out of our dark despair under our own strength rather than with the strength found in the light of God. It breaks my heart when confronted with a person who can’t accept the fact someone they love is an abuser or hooked on internet pornography or worse. It hurts to watch an intelligent, gifted people who cannot bring themselves to confront their own fears, addictions, and who they are called to be.
Everybody has secrets, something we just can’t face on our own. Some folks spend their whole lives trying to keep them hidden and quiet; they carry them with them everywhere they go. Until one day they must cut it loose or let it pull them down deeper into darkness. Until one day they realize they must let it go and give it up to God otherwise these secrets cause them to slip further and further into the bottomless abyss.[1]
Ask the recovering alcoholic or drug addict if they are recovering under their own power or a power beyond themselves. Ask anyone wrestling and struggling with depression where they find the strength they need to get up in the morning. Ask the parent with a disabled child at home how they keep going each day.
Throughout human history, we’ve witnessed revolutionaries oppressed by those in power over them, who want to fight against the oppression of their people, revolt against their oppressors through military force and take power. All too often, however, one oppressive government is overthrown and replaced by another equally oppressive government. They are fighting the darkness with darkness.
Even Jesus was pushed to launch some kind of movement to throw off the chains of Roman occupation that would sweep him into power, privilege and glory. They did not understand that Jesus was called to bring God’s light into the world to overcome the darkness. And so are we. This is our mission. This is our witness to the world. Jesus declares, “Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven has come near.” The light we seek after is God’s presence in the world.
And this light creates possibilities for living that did not previously exist. Light does not merely illumine, it is a game-changer; it has cumulative and transformative power. When light is reflected into a dark place, what was once hidden is now exposed. What was once out of sight, out of mind, comes to the forefront.
Author Robert Fulghum told a story of one of his professors, a wise man whose name was Alexander Papaderos.
At the last session on the last morning of a two-week seminar on Greek culture, Dr. Papaderos turned and made the ritual gesture—“Are there any questions?”
Quiet quilted the room. These two weeks had generated enough questions for a lifetime, but for now, there was only silence.
“No questions?” Papaderos swept the room with his eyes.
So, I asked. “Dr. Papaderos, what is the meaning of life?”
The usual laughter followed, and people stirred to go.
Papaderos held up his hand, stilled the room and looked at me for a long time, asking with his eyes if I was serious and seeing from my eyes that I was.
“I will answer your question.”
Taking his wallet out of his hip pocket, he fished into a leather billfold and brought out a very small round mirror, about the size of a quarter. And he said,.
“When I was a small child, during the war, we were very poor and we lived in a remote village. One day, on the road, I found the broken pieces of a mirror. A German motorcycle had been wrecked in that place.”
“I tried to find all the pieces and put them together, but it was not possible, so I kept only the largest piece; this one. And by scratching it on a stone, I made it round. I began to play with it as a toy and became fascinated by the fact that I could reflect light into dark places where the sun would never shine—in deep holes and crevices and dark closets. It became a game for me to get light into the most inaccessible places I could find.”
“I kept the little mirror, and as I went about my growing up, I would take it out in idle moments and continue the challenge of the game. As I became a man, I grew to understand that this was not just a child’s game but a metaphor for what I might do with my life. I came to understand that I am not the light or the source of the light. But light—truth, understanding, knowledge—is there, and it will only shine in many dark places if I reflect it.”
“I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know. Nevertheless, with what I have I can reflect light into the dark places of this world—into the black places in the hearts of people—and change some things in some of them. Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what I am about. This is the meaning of life.”
And then he took his small mirror and, holding it carefully, caught the bright rays of daylight streaming through the window and reflected them on my face and onto my hands folded on the desk.[2]
We are the fragment in between; we are the fragment in between God and the darkness, reflecting the light of God into the dark places and the lost hearts of people. We are the fragment in between calling others to follow Jesus and make them his disciples.
People living in darkness are assaulted by forces both known & unknown and they are mired in anguish and suffering. It is through the light of Christ all people can experience a new day, a new life filled with love, hope and grace. God has the power to defend and shield God’s children from the things that oppress them. The light brings well-being and wholeness to everyone.
This is our mission: our task is to share a faith in Jesus Christ that is exciting and engaging enough to be contagious. The message of God’s reign is not for the tentative and indecisive, because it necessitates total allegiance; a complete commitment. It brings a severing of old relationships and securities that left us in the dark for far too long. It puts people in the position to follow Jesus. It places all of us in the position to repent and accept the new thing God is doing in the world with the arrival of the kingdom of heaven on earth. And when this happens, what was once impossible on our own becomes possible with God.
The Bible says, “if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation. The old life is gone; a new life has begun.” And so it is as the fragment in between reflecting the light of Christ into dark corners. Lives change. Perspectives change. New possibilities are more enticing and alluring. This causes successful fishermen to throw down their nets, leave their boats and families behind and follow Jesus. People who held prominent jobs and successful careers in law, medicine or business and where miserable and unsatisfied, suddenly find themselves called and drawn to ministry and serving in Jesus’ name rather than their corporate insignia. I could have done many things with my life and most of them led to dark, dead-ends, but through the light of Christ this is what I am called to do.
It is light that revives and flourishes; it is in the light that one can see the way. Where the light of God is present, there distortions are straightened, falsehoods are exposed, lies are uncovered, demons are exorcised, the lame walk, the blind see: God’s light brings God’s rule. And God’s rule means the exercise of God’s power to make things right, to make things whole again. Where the light meets the dark, this is where the healing begins. Where the light meets the dark, this is where the healing starts.[3]
Repent and hear the Good News! The Kingdom of Heaven has come near.” Amen.
[1] Adapted from the lyrics of “Darkness on the Edge of Town” Copyright © Bruce Springsteen (ASCAP) Columbia Records © 2009 Thrill Hill Productions, Inc. - Powered by Signatures Network
[2] (From It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It by Robert Fulghum. Copyright 1988, 1989 by Robert Fulghum. Adapted by permission of Villard Books, a division of Random House, Inc.)
[3] “Healing Begins”, Mike Donehey/Jason Ingram/Jeff Owen; © 2010 Sony/ATV Timber Publishing / West Main Music / Formerly Music / Windsor Hill Music (SESAC) / Sony/ATV Cross Keys Publishing / Mt. Roskill Music / Robots Rule the World (ASCAP)
No comments:
Post a Comment