"Living in the Light"

Pastor Ray
02/06/2005

Living in the Light
Back in my old days in Corporate America, we used to joke about seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. It was a way of saying that when things could be better…. better things awaited us up ahead. It was almost a pep rally chant… until one day the new guy at the table asked, “But what if the light is attached to a freight train?” Party pooper. Yet, not every day is better than the one before it.
One night this week, it was family homework time and Chandler, our fifth grader was studying Chinese history. We made it through Chairman Mao. I remembered just enough history to get by. “Dad, what’s the man doing standing in front of the tank?” he asked. Do you remember Tiananmen Square? My explanation to Chandler helped me realize that someone that day knew that there was a light at the end of the tunnel… and he was willing to face the freight train head-on. I wish I were so brave. I wish I were so prophetic that I could see that light! And I am a very optimistic person! “So Dad, he was really brave, wasn’t he?” Sure was! “Dad, I hope he helped make it better for everyone.” Me too!
I guess the optimism of a child can help shine light into his Dad’s heart. I wonder what we might be able to do.
So, let me ask this. How’s life for you? Good? Or are you struggling to see the light at the end of the tunnel? Where do you go when life falls apart? “What have I done to deserve this?” … you wonder. But what if it’s the person seated beside you right now…. What if he’s the one who breaks a leg while skiing down the mountain tomorrow morning? Or what if she’s the one who is loses her job next week? She certainly seems like a professional and experienced person, doesn’t she? And if I don’t break a leg, or get laid off next week, what makes me so special? What have I done to be so fortunate?
Forty years of life, and a lot of pastoral care with others…. I still get those same old feelings from time to time. Why me? Why not me? Why suddenly and so unexpectedly does the light seem to fade to darkness when life takes a turn for the worse?
Sometimes I have to wonder about these things that we call fear and uncertainty, and the feelings of unfairness and guilt. I know it’s all something we call “life.” I mean, why are some of us healthy as a horse (whatever that means), fit as a fiddle—full of health and strength? And yet others, are constantly at the doctors office or struggling just to put one foot in front of the other? Why do some of us have wallets bulging at the seams while others of us struggle from paycheck to paycheck? Why are some marriages made in heaven while yet others feel like a living hell? Why do some families seem to have it so easy while others…. work so much harder but seem to be hit from behind nearly every step of life. Deep down, I know that every person and every family has their problems, their challenges, their moments when life seems to fall apart….. and yet, I pray with all my heart that every family will have those times when problems are solved, challenges overcome, promises of new life become a reality, and better days all yet to come.
I guess the older we all become, the more we realize that as we run this race called life, there’s always a good reason to fall on our knees in prayer. Sometimes in thanksgiving. Sometimes in confession. Sometimes in confusion. Sometimes with tears. Sometimes for ourselves. Sometimes for others. Wherever two or three… or three hundred are found, there are plenty of reasons to seek God and to pray for comfort and healing and wholeness. I believe that today is no different.
I imagine that this morning as many of us noticed the word “healing” printed in the bulletin, a few of us felt a little nervous, a little uncertain. Some may have tried to slip out the other door. What’s about to happen here? What do I do? Do we all just sit right where we are, or do we dare venture up front to the pastor or a Stephen Minister or a Health Ministry Committee member? And either way, what are we to expect? Do you think there’s a light at the end of the tunnel? Some have already argued silently, quite well … that God is certainly in this place and can bless us just fine… right where we are in our seats. Yet, for others, the front of the Chapel looks somehow closer to God.
And if I find the courage to walk up, you wonder what should I expect? After all, what can happen? I hope that the first thing we all realize is that the God who greets us at the front is the same God who created us and all that we have. And certainly the God who created us can do a few major repairs from time to time and can certainly handle a tune-up. I can think of no better place to take my pains, my failures, my joys, my celebrations, my concerns for me, my family, my community, my church, and my world. Life’s just never been the same after the Garden of Eden. Yet, God keeps giving hugs to his children.
I shared this story before…. that someone a couple of years ago got a big hug right here at Christ the King… during one of our healing services. I’ve forgotten her name. But she wrote us just to let us know her faith story. See, she from out of town, and was driving in from a long, long drive, on her way to Duke. Her doctors back home had sent her there. The diagnosis was not good. For some reason, she wrote, I pulled off the interstate right at your exit. And why, I don’t know… I wasn’t dressed for church, but I pulled into your parking lot. Why, I don’t know, I came in and slipped into the back pew. Why in the world was I brought to a healing service? It was nice, I thought. It was always nice to have someone pray for me. I’d never had hands on my head before. But it felt good.
I didn’t understand it until the doctors at Duke asked me why I was there. I told them. They told me there’s nothing wrong. Go home. I guess we call that cured, don’t we?
Yet, I’ve watched some of my own sheep here at Church … fail to get better. Not really cured, yet healed. There is a difference. I have to think of one of our parishioners … diagnosed with cancer… I was with her when the doctor told her that she had a month to live. Her first words were, “I’ll be all right. God will take care of that.” Peace. Life. New life. And she’s not alone, for many have found peace again. I look around my church and my community…. and see many people who need God to touch their lives and bring peace and joy back to them. Some may be blessed so much that cured is the right word, but wouldn’t we all settle for a healing? Will it always happen, I don’t know… maybe not in this life. In fact, I’ve followed a number of people to the grave—yet at the grave, I know that they now are not only healed with peace and joy, but they are cured as well. There’s so much I don’t understand about life and about God. But I don’t need to know everything. I have all that I really need. God’s love. God’s grace. God’s promise for new life. When it will all happen, how it will look for me or for any of us, I don’t know. But I know what God tells us to do: Remember the wonderful words of faith which the psalmist wrote: The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I fear? Indeed, we need someone to kiss the boo-boo and make it better. Sometimes it may be easier to suffer in silence and alone, or so we think. Sometimes it may be easier just to pretend that the disease or the wheelchair doesn’t exist, or so we think. But God speaks to us about that: Therefore all the faithful will make their prayers… in time of trouble…. God will listen. God will hold us close. God will kiss our broken places. And God will send brothers and sisters to kiss it as well. As God promises, one day we shall be perfect again! Remember that God has claimed us…. Remember that God calls us to seek Him and to accept his mercy.
In just a few minutes each of us will have the opportunity to seek him in different ways. Some right where we sit. Some gathered here at the front of the Chapel. Some praying for ourselves. Some praying for others. Some just wanting to be part of the family. Some reaffirming our faith and asking God to help us walk closer. Some praying that God’s peace will come for all humanity to know. There’s no wrong way to come. God’s strength and power has overcome greater obstacles than that. God calls us to realize just how close He is to us.
Whether you wish for light to come to a man standing in front of a tank, or to a woman who is fighting cancer, or to a region that struggles to rebuild after a tsunami, or to a nation that is overwhelmed by hunger and poverty, or to you yourself as you face pain and suffering…. What better place to come to catch a glimpse of the light…. and to feel the warmth that comes from living in the light…. what better place to come for love and care, for forgiveness and healing? What better place to come just to get a kiss and a hug from our God? By God’s grace and mercy, we come in faith. Amen.