When my kids were little, we didn’t have a lot of money to spend on entertainment. Looking for a good way to spend our Sunday afternoons, we often visited their grandparents or went for a long ride in the station wagon. The girls liked to sit in the back-back and look out the rear window. We often stopped at a park or a playground and sometimes topped it all off with an ice cream cone. We had fun.
One of the things I remember about those long drives was the strange feeling of sadness that came over me whenever we passed a church that was closed for the night, and all the windows were dark. The people and the worship and the singing that had filled the church that morning was now gone. It felt like Sunday was over, and it made me sad. When I was a teenager, Sunday nights were for youth group meetings, which were full of the things I loved about Sunday mornings with some fun and games mixed in. I have lots of fond memories of those Sunday nights.
I didn’t really know what to do with the mixture of nostalgia and emotions that those darkened churches triggered in me. I knew in my head that we don’t need to be in church to worship God or experience His presence, but I don’t think the rest of me had gotten the message. That is, until I heard a priest give a talk in which he exuberantly declared, “The Word of God is alive!” And then he quoted the opening verses of John’s Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it” (John 1:1,3-5). Even though we may have to close our church at night, lock the doors and turn out the lights, Jesus is still, “the light that shines in the darkness.”
I don’t remember anything else Father said that night, but he helped me to see that opening my Bible is an invitation for Jesus to come and sit beside me and let His light shine in my darkness. The prophesies and promises of the Old Testament, the music of the Psalms, the wisdom of the Gospels and the encouragement of the Epistles are a continuation of our Sunday morning worship, and are as close as my living-room bookshelf. “Then [Jesus] said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures” (Luke 24:44). He made His light shine in their darkness.
“Jesus then said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples’” (John 8:31). The Word of God is alive! “Continue in my word,” He said. That is an open invitation to read it, ponder it, share it and live it. There is always so much more to know about the God who made us, cares for us, and loves us so much that He sent us His Only Son, who laid down His life to redeem and save us. So, keep reading! Keep pondering, and let the Light of Christ shine in your darkness!
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Matthew 24:35). To God be the glory!
KEEP READING
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword… discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” John 1-5
