As preached by Sister Rebecca
Holy Wisdom Church
We heard this morning from John’s Gospel that the Light shines in the darkness. What light? John is pointing to this Light of Christ, the same that emanates and radiates from the very beginning of God's creation: In the book of Genesis chapter one, we hear of the Spirit hovering over the deep dark abyss and God said: “Let there be Light”. This is not the light of the sun but rather the mysterious Divine Light imbuing all of creation. John is referring to this Light in introducing his Gospel: Jesus is the very Word of God incarnate. He is the Light of Life. In him and through him God dwells (or more literally the text says that in Him God has pitched his tent in our midst.) Jesus from the beginning of his ministry lived as a nomad: “the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.” He was on the go, taking part of ordinary, everyday life’s comings and goings and in the process, teaching the good news: God is here and now and manifesting this power of life in healing, giving sight to the blind, new life to the sick, even raising some from death to life...
But the very goodness itself of God manifested in Jesus teaching aroused the hatred from those refusing the light and was put to death. We know the story and how this unexpected event threw his disciples into a deep dark abyss of despair, sadness, and dashed hope for a Savior of the world. The disciples spiraled down the dark inner confusion to the point of being terrorized of being associated with Jesus. So they enclosed themselves behind locked doors, insulating themselves, huddling together in their misery. Closed doors did not prevent the Risen Jesus from passing through into their midst and revealing himself to them. Nothing they did brought about this sudden visitation...it is sheer grace, the goodness of God that brought them to new life.
And this visitation of the Risen One occurred over and over again starting with the faithful women disciples and continues throughout almost 2000 years to this day.
Teillard de Chardin said this extraordinary energy of the Risen Lord changed the very atoms of creation-that it not only transformed lives, but also the entire creation. God did not just create in the beginning and then somehow bow out of sight but has been creating, renewing life right up to our day.
This brings to mind an event that may well illustrate this same Spirit recreating in our midst:
Just before Holy Week I received a voice message on my phone extension: it came from a woman I will call Joan. The message said:
“I am calling to get some advice as to what I should do. My family hates me. I am an alcoholic. Last night I heard this voice: it said from inside me: ‘You can have another chance. Everything is OK. The past is forgotten.’ The feeling was wonderful. I am calling because I do not know how to make the best of it.”
Those in AA can vouch for similar experiences that changed their life forever.
This is another of many visitations from on high. This voice from within Joan, heard so clearly, is inviting her to new life – to rise from a dead-end prison of bondage but also misery not only to herself but also to her family and friends. In calling for help she is doing her part...stepping out to ask for advice so she can act according to the Life offered her. The seed has been planted. She needs the good soil for it to germinate.
You would not be here this morning, I think if this emergence of Light in the darkness isn't part of your own experiences. The Spirit of the Risen Christ continues to break through our sense of powerlessness.
“There is a crack in everything and that is when the light gets in.” (Leonard Cohen)
The psalmist says: “Deep calls unto deep. “ The deep dark abyss continues in our day: we hear about it every day in the news...killings and wounding of innocent people, ...many horrors flood the news, which we need not mention in detail. We hear about it enough in the daily news reports. The Risen Lord assures us: that when there is the experience of this deep dark abyss it calls forth in some way -unique each time-the Creative Spirit of God who has been hovering over this chaos from the very beginning of not only our earth but the entire universe and bringing forth New Life.
Later today we will return to our 24/7 daily lives with our concerns, our work, and our relationships. Would that we keep in mind and heart Jesus telling us before he died to ‘abide in me’. When we heed to this presence, this kairos time, then we allow the Light to pierce through everything we are and do...in every NOW moment. Some part of us, though, is yet to be redeemed.. to see the Light. We need the shocks of our difficulties, challenges, sometimes mini or maxi crisis, to wake up to this innermost reality of God's creative life in our midst...calling us to cooperate in God’s re-creating. At times we find ourselves wrestling with our problems, with our thoughts, feelings and we feel our sense of powerlessness. Our tendency like the disciples is to go into the insular, self-enclosing in on one’s own little self. When we do this it is like trying to solve the problem within the problem. God's grace is bigger than one's limited sense of self. Grace is woven into the fabric of our lives. A German proverb says: Begin to weave and God will give you the thread".
We need only to trust in and cooperate this divine presence, this Light of Life permeating all of life and then our voices resounding in “Christ is Risen” will follow us into our everyday lives and unbeknown to ourselves reverberate for the Life of the World we live in.
