The following is a link to this week's Gospel reading, John 1:1-18:
http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=254833165
http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=254833165
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. John 1:5
As many of you know, I am in the final year of a three year master's degree program in clinical mental health counseling. In this final year, we have to actually counsel real people, not just learn about the theory behind counseling. For my internship, I am working with college students. I have 6 clients of my own, and I see two other students each week for what is called an "intake." During these intakes I try to get to know the student a little bit better, as I learn what it is that has brought him or her into the college counseling center.
The students I see for intakes are eventually assigned to other counselors, but it is amazing what they share with me during the brief hour that we spend together. These are young people between the ages of 18 and 25. They are just starting out in their adult lives. It should be a time of hope, excitement and new beginnings, but for them it is not. They come to the counseling center because they are in pain. The darkness in their lives seems to be blotting out the light, and they need someone to walk with them as the seek to find their way back into the light.
There are some days when I feel like I could be overcome by their darkness. (The details of these individual stories have been changed to protect the identities of those who originally shared them.) Their stories are heartbreaking. One young woman who had spent years in the foster care system shared with me her stories of trauma and neglect. Toward the end of our time together she said in a very small voice, "I think it would have been better if I had never existed." Another young man told me the story of his 18th birthday party. His mother threw a big party for him and gave him as a gift several bags of heroin. I have heard countless stories of students who began supporting themselves when they were 12 or 13 years old because their drug addicted parents were unable to take care of them. I am amazed that these young people made it to college.
The students I see for intakes are eventually assigned to other counselors, but it is amazing what they share with me during the brief hour that we spend together. These are young people between the ages of 18 and 25. They are just starting out in their adult lives. It should be a time of hope, excitement and new beginnings, but for them it is not. They come to the counseling center because they are in pain. The darkness in their lives seems to be blotting out the light, and they need someone to walk with them as the seek to find their way back into the light.
There are some days when I feel like I could be overcome by their darkness. (The details of these individual stories have been changed to protect the identities of those who originally shared them.) Their stories are heartbreaking. One young woman who had spent years in the foster care system shared with me her stories of trauma and neglect. Toward the end of our time together she said in a very small voice, "I think it would have been better if I had never existed." Another young man told me the story of his 18th birthday party. His mother threw a big party for him and gave him as a gift several bags of heroin. I have heard countless stories of students who began supporting themselves when they were 12 or 13 years old because their drug addicted parents were unable to take care of them. I am amazed that these young people made it to college.
Sometimes it feels as though the darkness will overcome the light.
In my work as a priest, I sometimes have a similar experience. As I walk with people who are dying and their families, as I visit the sick, and sit with the broken-hearted, it can seem as though the darkness is blotting out the light. And then I turn on the news. Violence all over, children being killed, politicians arguing about whether or not to feed the hungry and clothe the poor, tornadoes, floods and hurricanes.
Sometimes it feels as though the darkness will overcome the light. And I wonder, what is the point of this all? What is the purpose of this life, and all the pain and suffering that go along with being alive?
Sometimes it feels as though the darkness will overcome the light.
And yet, as a person following the way of Jesus, I believe that God, the Word, the one who was and is and is to come, chose to join us in this darkness, this pain, this suffering, this struggle.
In my work as a priest, I sometimes have a similar experience. As I walk with people who are dying and their families, as I visit the sick, and sit with the broken-hearted, it can seem as though the darkness is blotting out the light. And then I turn on the news. Violence all over, children being killed, politicians arguing about whether or not to feed the hungry and clothe the poor, tornadoes, floods and hurricanes.
Sometimes it feels as though the darkness will overcome the light. And I wonder, what is the point of this all? What is the purpose of this life, and all the pain and suffering that go along with being alive?
Sometimes it feels as though the darkness will overcome the light.
And yet, as a person following the way of Jesus, I believe that God, the Word, the one who was and is and is to come, chose to join us in this darkness, this pain, this suffering, this struggle.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. . . And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory. . . John 1:1-2; 14
The God of the Christian way, the God who became incarnate in Jesus on Christmas day, this God is a God who was willing to enter our dirty, messy, mixed up, violent and often painful world. This is not a distant God. This is not a God caught up in power and might. This is not a God who rules over. This is a God who is with His creation. This is a God who knows His creation intimately. This is a God who cares deeply, compassionately and infinitely for His creation. This is a God who loves, who is love.
This is a God who is love.
This is a God who is love.
In the midst of the darkness of this world, all the pain and misery and suffering, God entered in and walked among us. A small pinprick of light began to shine. And that light grew brighter and brighter. At one point the world tried to put the light out. The world tried to kill God incarnate in Jesus, but the world could not put this light out. The light shown even brighter.
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 1:3-5
Sometimes it feels as though the darkness will overcome the light, and yet the darkness does not overcome it. That light of Christ, that hope, that life, that reason for being, the God who was and is and is to come, that light is shining inside each and every one of us. We may feel from time to time like the darkness is all there is and the darkness will overcome the light, but it cannot. That divine spark, that divine light shines in each of our hearts. No matter how obscured that light may become, it is there, and the darkness cannot overcome it.
God chose to enter our dirty, messy, mixed up, violent and often painful world in order to show us how much he loves us and to show us the light, His light. In His son, Jesus, we see how to bring that light out from under the layers of hurt, suffering, and pain that are obscuring it. And we see how to shine this light in the world that we might help others bring their light out from under the layers of hurt, suffering and pain that are obscuring their light.
In my work with my clients I am not a religious professional. We do not talk about Christianity or my life as a follower of Christ. And yet, I feel that what I am doing with them, the path I am walking with them is very spiritual and very Christian. I do not heal them or fix them. But I do try to connect my inner light with theirs, in the hopes that they will begin to see that this light is within them too. The healing comes from within them, I simply serve as a connection with their own divine spark. Isn't this after all the calling of every follower of Christ?
God chose to enter our dirty, messy, mixed up, violent and often painful world in order to show us how much he loves us and to show us the light, His light. In His son, Jesus, we see how to bring that light out from under the layers of hurt, suffering, and pain that are obscuring it. And we see how to shine this light in the world that we might help others bring their light out from under the layers of hurt, suffering and pain that are obscuring their light.
In my work with my clients I am not a religious professional. We do not talk about Christianity or my life as a follower of Christ. And yet, I feel that what I am doing with them, the path I am walking with them is very spiritual and very Christian. I do not heal them or fix them. But I do try to connect my inner light with theirs, in the hopes that they will begin to see that this light is within them too. The healing comes from within them, I simply serve as a connection with their own divine spark. Isn't this after all the calling of every follower of Christ?
You may not be called to be a religious professional or a counselor. You may not be called to a helping profession at all. But as a follower of Christ, you know that God loves you. As a follower of Christ, you know that the creator of all that is, the being that is love itself, walked amongst us and lives within each and everyone of us. As a follower of Christ, you know that the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. You know that this light shines within you. And you too are called to be the light in the darkness for others that they also might find the light that is within them.
Sometimes it feels as though the darkness will overcome the light, and yet,
Sometimes it feels as though the darkness will overcome the light, and yet,
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. . . And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory... John 1:1-5; 14
You are the light of the world.
Amen.
Amen.