Dear Members and Friends of St. John,
On Tuesday evening, January 30, the St. John men’s group,
the Promise Keepers, had an interesting gathering. First, the wind was blowing and gusting so
that it was difficult to venture out.
However, four of us did brave the elements and make it to our study. We began with prayer and talked a
little. We were just about to go to the
computer to look at Lesson Two in a Lutheran Hour Ministries video Bible study
when “it” happened. A gust of wind must
have hit a power line somewhere. The lights
in the church went out around 7:45 p.m.
With the lights and the power out, we could not use the
video for the Bible study. But, maybe
the lights would come back on. So we
waited, and discussed issues of life and faith in the darkness. And, we waited and we discussed. Finally, about 25 minutes later we decided we
would not get to the Bible Study that night, so we discussed prayer needs, and
we prayed. After a half an hour in the dark
we headed for home.
As we left and locked up I mentioned some about our evening
session without light, in darkness. Eric
Wyatt corrected me. “The lights may have
been out, but we had The Light.”
Eric’s statement got me to thinking about what the Bible
says about light and darkness. Did you
know there are 158 verse that talk about “darkness” in the New International
Version translation of the Bible? As I read
through these verses I found a common theme.
Darkness is characteristic of sin, and judgement, and those who live and
act in disobedience to God. Living in darkness
is the result of a sin in our world.
But, God brings light to those in darkness, especially through His Son, Jesus. Jesus, brings us righteousness before God through
His own righteous life and His sacrificial, forgiving death. Jesus, the Son of God and our Savior, gives
us life through His victorious rising from the dead. As we know and believe in Jesus, as we follow
Him, we receive the light of God in place of the darkness in our lives.
I spent time studying the teaching of Scripture on light
and darkness. I ask you to please
consider with me just some of the truth God reveals through the contrast of
light and darkness.
In Isaiah 9:2 we are
told, The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on
those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. In
Matthew 4 God reveals that the light which dawns in the land of darkness is
Jesus Himself.
In the first five verse of the Gospel of John, God
contrasts the power and life and light we have in Jesus, with the darkness in
which this rebellious world lives. 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without
him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was
the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not
understood it. (John 1:1-5) Like the flipping of a switch to
turn on the lights in a dark room, Jesus burst on the world bringing light and
life.
Jesus speaks about Himself to the leaders of His day,
saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness,
but will have the light of life." (John
8:12 b ) If you read on in this section of Scripture, however, you
see the leaders immediately challenged Jesus.
Finally, in the Epistle reading
assigned for this Sunday, for Transfiguration Sunday, God inspired Paul to
write in 2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who
said, "Let light shine out of darkness,"
made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Christ. In
Jesus, light shines out of darkness. In
Jesus we are given the knowledge of the glory of God.
I believe that, in a way he did not even realize, Eric
was correct in his statement. No one
likes to be in darkness. It is hard to
see and maneuver in the dark. Alaskans know how continued darkness can create
gloom and depression. But, our men’s
group gladly sat in the darkness and discussed God’s love and God’s power. Even in the darkness of that evening, the
light of Jesus was shining in our midst.
It is only early February in Alaska. The hours of light are beginning to lengthen
so we know the time of long daylight is coming.
But, for now we still experience many more hours of darkness than
light. In many ways our spirits are
anxiously waiting for that time of light.
Perhaps Alaskans can understand even more what Jesus means when he tells
us, "I
am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but
will have the light of life."
A Child of God, Seeking to Walk in the Light of the Love
and Life Found in Jesus,
Pastor Jonathan
P.S. At the end of
today’s e-mail message I have chosen some more of these Scripture verses about
darkness and light copied them so you can read and see some of what Scripture
says.
P.P.S. The St.
John Elders met with DCE intern Ethan Mirly on January 25 at the home of Ron
and Ann Marie Svedin. Here are a couple
of pictures. https://photos.app.goo.gl/SWyZ7CWonlbl4tEi2
P.P.P.S. I finally
got to go ice fishing this year. St. John
DCE Intern, Ethan Mirly, and Our Redeemer DCE intern, Alex Parker, also joined
me. Here are a couple of pictures from
that trip. https://photos.app.goo.gl/ETXD0lJtB7G7wW132
******
ABOUT ‘THOUGHTS FROM THE PASTOR’ - I am
sending these e-mail messages, hopefully weekly, to all St. John members and
friends whose e-mails I have. (I am regularly adding new names of friends
and members – in case you are just receiving this e-mail for the first
time.) However, if you do not want to receive this e-mail, please let me
know, and I’ll gladly leave your name off my list for this message.
******
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