Powerful!

Powerful! Very few of us know what true darkness is like. Even on the most cloudy of nights there are the lights from our house, the street, the occasional passing car. Shut yourself in your closet and turn out the light. Most times you can still see some things. The light from the room filters under the door. You really have to try hard to be in total darkness!

How powerful is the darkness? The darkness contains our fears, it steals our sight, and it limits our vision (both literally and figuratively).

When we were small, the darkness was the place where the things we were afraid of lived. It may have contained a nightmare of two. Not all darkness was evil, but it did seem that most of the things that were evil lived somewhere in the darkness.

So, what is more powerful than the darkness? Yes, you’re right. The picture to the left did give it away, didn’t it? Darkness goes running away when one candle is lit. One little flickering flame is all it takes.

A candle flame seems so vulnerable. A puff of breath can blow it out, so we look for other images of power. Do an internet search for pictures of power. Do you know what image showed up more often than any other? It wasn’t a picture of military might. It wasn’t a picture of a powerful waterfall. It wasn’t an image of an Olympic weight lifter. It wasn’t a picture of any of the presidents of the United States. It was pictures of Oprah.

It seems sad that very few of the pictures could have been labeled as religious, or even inspirational. Probably more than half of them were of different celebrities. And by far, the favorite celebrity was Oprah.

I like the image of the candle though. That little baby in the manger was vulnerable too. He needed to be rescued from an evil King Herod. God needed his diaper changed. He was hungry. He got tired. Young baby Jesus needed a nap just like a much younger version of you and I did.

Yet, because this young, tender light had come into the world, the world would never be a dark place again. History changed on that dark night. God’s relationship with his creation was redefined when the first rays shone from the manger.

Fear and anxiety were dispelled. Emmanuel, God with us, had brought peace. God did indeed come near.

Pastor Craig