Good
Morning All,
Matthew 5:14; “You are the light of the
world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”
We are slowly moving away from the winter
solstice, the “shortest” day of the year.
The day when we have the least hours of sunlight and the night is the
longest. It always seems slow but we
have already gained 13 minutes of daylight since Dec. 21st. You notice it the most if you do something
outside at the same time of the day. You
have a little more daylight now than last week.
Yet it is still dark a big portion of the day. It can be striking how the darkness seems to
swallow up the light leaving us in the dark longer and longer.
When the darkness grows light, any kind of
light can be bright. For those of you who
have a night light in your house, in the daylight you can barely see the glow
of the light but at night, its soft glow illumines most of the room. When the sun is gone away small lights make a
huge difference. Small lights also serve
as a point of reference and they show us where there is existence, a town or a
home, a place that is inhabited.
Jesus tells us that we are the light of
the world. It is nothing we do; it is
just a fact. In a world that is
completely in the dark, we are to bring a little light, a little hope. No one can do this as well as the
Church. We have God’s message for the
world. We offer the only true hope for
this world. Jesus has entrusted this job
to his holy body, the Church, you and me.
We are to be those little lights in the world. We are the lights because God has made us
that way. With His Holy Spirit living in
us, Jesus shines through us bringing light to the darkness of the world.
We often attach darkness with many of our
fears. If you watch any of the really
old horror movies, the trouble always occurred at night. In many of these movies, if you could only
survive until daylight comes, you would be alright. We can view the sinful world in the same
way. It does everything it can to bring
fear and pain to the people who inhabit it.
It brings the sounds and the smells of fear into our life. Darkness is when we often lay awake, tossing
and turning, worrying about life and troubles both real and imagined. We lay there and the darkness comes and
covers our souls trying to dim our faith and weaken our trust in God.
Yet God calls for his Church to be the
light. We are to shine light into the
world bringing hope to all. This is how
God chooses to ordinarily work. He works
though his redeemed people, the Church.
We are called to be the light; so be the light. Look for times and chances to be the light in
the lives of those around you who are hurting, in pain; lost in the darkness. Bring hope; God is using you and your gifts
to do this. Visit a neighbor, comfort a
friend, forgive an enemy, reach out and aid someone in need of food or clothing
or shelter. This is why we are here; to
reconcile the world back to God by showing his love to all by being the light
to the world.
Dear Father, in all things you are more gracious to us than we can
ever comprehend. Give us the strength
and the courage to be the light to the world and to be the city on the
hill. Use us Father as your hands to
bring hope and peace to a world that knows neither. In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor Bret
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