The Head Light
Stories
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit
Series IV Cycle C
Every once in a while, I hear from friends I had in college and seminary. Not long ago, I heard from the pastor of Immanuel Church in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Art had been a friend and colleague in college, and now, after a number of years, we were in touch again.
His e-mail to me included some recent thoughts he'd had about walking by faith in the light of the Word. He told of his experience of spending a summer session at Biola University in southern California. He lived in a dorm again for about three weeks. The rooms were equipped with a television, computer, refrigerator, and stereo. His room, however -- for some reason -- only had a computer.
The head -- the bathroom -- was across the hall. He writes: "When I opened the bathroom door across the hall from my room, I encountered a dark room. I walked in and started to feel the wall for a switch. In the three weeks I lived there I never found the switch. Did I shower and shave in the dark for three weeks? No! I didn't have to find the switch; it found me. A sensing device turned the light on -- automatically. That's a high tech head! All I had to do was walk into the dark, and the light came on."
He went on to observe the nature of faith: "What a picture of faith. Those cautious, informed steps that we take in the dark, as we walk in the will of God, are responded to by God himself giving us light to proceed. The paths of God are indeed paths. They are not well-lit boulevards. We only get as much light as we need to take the next step."
The scene in Nehemiah's story is dramatic. Ezra has found a copy of the Law. He gathers the people to listen to a reading of the Word. He read the Word all morning, and the people stood while they listened. They understood what they heard and they wept.
What they were getting was some light for their darkness. Pastor Art referred to Psalm 119:105: "Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path." He commented, "In the ancient world what illuminated a path was a lamp held in the hand of the person doing the walking. The walker would only see more path as he proceeded to walk. Part of the walk of faith involves moving into the dark. People who have to see it all before they move, disqualify themselves from walking in faith and walking with God. Only as we walk into the darkness do we get more light."
His e-mail to me included some recent thoughts he'd had about walking by faith in the light of the Word. He told of his experience of spending a summer session at Biola University in southern California. He lived in a dorm again for about three weeks. The rooms were equipped with a television, computer, refrigerator, and stereo. His room, however -- for some reason -- only had a computer.
The head -- the bathroom -- was across the hall. He writes: "When I opened the bathroom door across the hall from my room, I encountered a dark room. I walked in and started to feel the wall for a switch. In the three weeks I lived there I never found the switch. Did I shower and shave in the dark for three weeks? No! I didn't have to find the switch; it found me. A sensing device turned the light on -- automatically. That's a high tech head! All I had to do was walk into the dark, and the light came on."
He went on to observe the nature of faith: "What a picture of faith. Those cautious, informed steps that we take in the dark, as we walk in the will of God, are responded to by God himself giving us light to proceed. The paths of God are indeed paths. They are not well-lit boulevards. We only get as much light as we need to take the next step."
The scene in Nehemiah's story is dramatic. Ezra has found a copy of the Law. He gathers the people to listen to a reading of the Word. He read the Word all morning, and the people stood while they listened. They understood what they heard and they wept.
What they were getting was some light for their darkness. Pastor Art referred to Psalm 119:105: "Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path." He commented, "In the ancient world what illuminated a path was a lamp held in the hand of the person doing the walking. The walker would only see more path as he proceeded to walk. Part of the walk of faith involves moving into the dark. People who have to see it all before they move, disqualify themselves from walking in faith and walking with God. Only as we walk into the darkness do we get more light."
