The Advent of the Light

I read Luke 1 this morning, and I was so moved. Reading as Elizabeth prophesied, then Mary, then Zechariah--all of them focused on the coming of the ONE. Their world was dark, too. I'm sure it seemed so hopeless, living under Roman occupation with extreme poverty and little freedom. Not too much has changed. Of course, I sense that though the Church in America is wealthy and free materially, we are not so spiritually.

We are bankrupt of love. We look out for our own welfare not concerned for the welfare of others (I am NOT even talking about the government--I am talking about the CHURCH). We have forgotten HIM and what HE came to do and what he entrusted US to do. Instead, we heap yokes of burden on others--piles of rules and regulations that can't possibly be kept. We expect people to PROVE their devotion to God by how much they DO. We are slaves to a law that we've been freed from--and it is all of our own choosing.

We boycott bars, people, movies, corporations, and we fail to see that we are arrogant and full of our own glory. We esteem ourselves as "not having done this or that" and "avoiding the appearance of evil"--whitewashed tombs full of dead men's bones. We have missed it. We are in darkness (of our own choosing).

Zechariah, John's father, prophesied this:

Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us--to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to ENABLE US TO SERVE HIM WITHOUT FEAR in his holiness and righteousness before him all our days...because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to SHINE on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace. (Luke 1: 68-75, 78-79)

This is our message--a message of hope to a people living in darkness. But how can we communicate it if we too are living in darkness? Step into the light, the freedom, and embrace the Rising Sun so that you may be able to embrace others with His light and life.