Hope in a time of darkness, Jan. 22, 2017

In many ways we could say that we live in a time of darkness. We are worried about the future. We worry about violence and a poor economy. Perhaps we are a little short sighted and lack perspective, but right or wrong, we live in a time of great anxiety. We don't need reports that everything is really OK. We don't need some sort of economic measure that tells us everything is progressing as it should. We need the spiritual virtue of hope. We need to grow in our ability to trust that God will bring us what is promised - not just what we expect.

Isaiah reminds us of hope in a dark time. Sometimes we hear this prophecy at Christmas time. It is the lands on the border that will see the light first. It is the poor people on the edge who will see God first. Partly, this is a promise that the tribes that never found their promised land, the tribes that never conquered or overthrew their overlords - they would one day get what was promised. It is also a reminder that God always blesses those most in need of blessing first. This is God's preference. The outcasts, the disenfranchised, the poor, the powerless, the forgotten ones are always first in line with God. So we can have hope. We might discover that we are not first in God's line (there are others in more need than us), and that God will rescue us when we think all is lost.

Jesus goes to Galilee. It is the very land that Isaiah prophesied would most need saving. It is a land of many masters - the Romans. Jesus retreats here because John has been arrested by the powers that do not believe in God. It is here that Jesus begins to proclaim good news. It is in this place of darkness and this time of darkness that Jesus proclaims a message of light.

We live in a different time of darkness. We are free to choose our leaders and we can't agree on the directions we should go. Neighbors don't know how to talk to each other. We are surrounded by wealth and abundance and we never seem to have enough and we don't know how to share. Perhaps we have traded good news for something else.

Paul begins to talk about the central problem to the church in Corinth. They are gifted and blessed and they are a mess. They are terribly divided. One group vies against another and they all have favorite leaders around whom they gather. Paul wants none of this. He won't even claim authority over any he has baptized. He won't claim to own any party on his behalf. Paul points only to the gospel. He will only proclaim the power of the cross. He admits that it sounds like foolishness, yet it is the foolishness of the cross that saves us.

How willing are we to embrace the foolishness of the cross in this time of darkness? We want to create a reasonable and a rational answer to the problems of our time. We want people to understand what we are about. We want to create a friendly space foe people to find God's love.  Are we doing this for God or for ourselves? I think the best answer we can give in our time is the message of the cross, not the message of some kind of easy or popular alternative. We have to be willing to proclaim hope in darkness. We have to be willing to walk in the dark places where the message needs to be heard most.

We hear again the call to follow. Peter and Andrew and James and John abandon their nets and follow Jesus to fish for people. It sounds so miraculous. How did they find the courage to drop everything? Perhaps it isn't about them. Their families owned boats. They seem to have a large and profitable enterprise. Perhaps they had the means to take a break from work and follow a Rabbi. It might have even been a point of pride for the families that their sons were studying the Torah. The act of following is interesting, but much more extraordinary is the message! They followed Jesus as he went from town to town. He taught, he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom, and he cured every disease and every sickness.

We want to grow as a church. We want to make a difference in this time of darkness. Maybe we have to abandon the desire to find what ever we need to be comfortable. Maybe the gospel isn't about comfort but about hope. We don't need to entertain people. We don't even need to serve their needs (even if we could figure out what people wanted). The good news is first proclaimed in a time and place of darkness. Maybe we shouldn't be so quick to pretend there is no darkness.

We are called to engage the world around us. The darkest parts first! We need courage to enter those dark places and meet people where they are. Can we hear people's fears without judgment? Can we hold the sick and embrace the diseased? Do we have the courage to proclaim good news when we are surrounded with nothing but evidence to the contrary? We will find that (as we suspected) it is not about us. It is not about this church. The gospel is a message of hope if we are willing to give it away without any expectations.

When we are most discouraged is when God can begin to make a new thing in us. When we fail, we have more sense to sit with other people who have failed. When we are sick, we can sympathize with the diseased and the broken. When we can't tell what will happen next we are more likely to look to the promises of God. It is not the path we would choose, but it is how Jesus chose to walk with us. He did not proclaim his perfection, nor does he set up standards that we cannot achieve. He walks through death for us and calls us to follow. The promise is light shining in the darkness.