Old
Testament Reading: Isaiah 58:8-9
Gospel
Readings: John 8:12-16; Matthew 5:14-16
(Note: I preached this sermon from memory, so it may
be different than what you see below)
A favorite
film of mine depicts our world in the very near future. It's based on science
that is actually being done right now.
Scientists, in this story, discover how to take a virus and retrain it
to attack cancer cells. The analogy they
use is a very fast car driven by a criminal can do tremendous damage, while one
driven by a police officer can be safe and do good. A virus is the same. They CURE cancer. But the resulting virus mutates, gets
entirely out of hand and takes the lives of most of the world's population,
ravaging the minds and bodies of everyone left so badly that they are no longer
recognizable as human.
The main
protagonist is immune, and he's a physician, a virologist. Now, stop me if you've heard this story
before. Evil comes into the world and
creeps inside of everyone, leaving them just shadows of the people they were
meant to be. A healer, a hero, a physician,
comes to save them.
In the midst
of the story, he's joined by a woman and a little boy from South America. They become his adopted family for a short
time, since his own family was lost. He
plays his favorite music for them, a song by Bob Marley, a musician they've
never heard of. He explains that Marley
had a theory, a theory that was much like that of a virologist. He believed you could cure evil and hatred by
injecting music and love. This physician
says Marley was scheduled one day to play music for a peace rally and the day
before, gunmen came to his house and shot him down in his home.
The next day,
he walked out on stage at the peace rally.
People asked him why he felt the need to risk that. He said that the
people trying to make this world WORSE are not taking a day off... so how can
I? LIGHT
UP THE DARKNESS.
The physician
does discover a cure, but it's almost too late.
The creatures who used to be human have invaded his home. And again, for us as believers, the story
gets familiar again. He has realized the
cure is in his blood. "I can save
you!" he yells at them. To no
avail. They can't understand him. They're too far gone to comprehend. The physician gives the cure to the boy and
his adopted mother. And like the scene
on Calvary, he entrusts the woman and her boy to carry on the mission and tell
the world. And he gives his own life to
save them all those in need of a cure.
He LIGHTS UP THE DARKNESS.
The physician
believed against all odds that one person could LIGHT UP THE DARKNESS.
He followed the example of his hero who would not take a day off from a
world full of people trying to make it worse.
He believed love could cure evil and hatred. And as believers, SO DO WE. Christ came as THE LIGHT. And his final mission to his disciples and to
us is to take that light into a world that can be very dark. LIGHT
UP THE DARKNESS. And Christ came
to show us that an individual, a person can do that. We can do that. He did it.
He got others to help him. And we
can too. People do it every day,
Shane
Claiborne, a popular young writer and activist went to college in
Philadelphia. As a student, he became
involved in outreach and ministry to the homeless in that city. Like the members of First Pres who helped
make Rowan Helping Ministries a reality, he was not content to merely see the
homeless, but desired to know them, know their story, and join their struggle.
Many homeless
in Philadelphia were living in an abandoned Catholic cathedral. The local Catholic archdiocese was not happy
with this. It was a huge liability. Presbyterians never think like this, do
we? Riiiiight. They warned the homeless to leave on many
occasions, but they had nowhere to go.
Finally, the bishop took action and had the building condemned, ready to
be demolished. The homeless were given
short notice to be out by 8am the following day. Shane Claiborne and dozens of his friends
heard about this and flocked to the cathedral to stay the night with the
homeless and be arrested with those who remained as a protest of solidarity for
their plight.
At 5am, a
knock came at the door. The fire chief
and his men were there in uniform. The
students said, "We have until 8am! you can't kick us out!" "You misunderstand," said the fire
chief. "This building is being condemned because it doesn't meet fire
code. And we're sure we can get it up to
code by 8am." LIGHT UP THE DARKNESS.
You see, it just took a few students to see the plight and make it known
that their homeless brothers and sisters were in need. It just took a few firemen to notice them and
to solve the problem, to bring light to the darkness, to the hopelessness of
those living in fear and need.
The plight of
these homeless is not rare. People in
need have never been rare. People in
need of hope, or food, or housing, or jobs, or love, or mental or physical
healthcare, or companionship or family.
There has never been a shortage of children who need families or elderly
who need visitors, or people who need a church home. It's not even hard to find them. They aren't hiding. WE ARE.
LIGHT UP THE DARKNESS. You have a light. You have THE light.
Our VBS kids
and youth spent the week learning, hearing, experiencing, and living the
stories of Christ and learning how he lit up the darkness. They are now prepared to share that with
others. And you can get in their way. Or you can get out of their way. Or you can go with them and show them who
needs it!
Take a moment
RIGHT NOW to think of someone who needs that light, who needs hope, who needs
something you have or something you and your family or your friends can
provide. Leave this place, go find them,
and bring them that light. Someone once
said... "The world is FULL of kind people.
If you can't find one... BE one."
Say it with me… LIGHT UP THE DARKNESS. Amen.
