A Light in the Darkness

Isaiah 54:7-10

7For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great compassion I will gather you. 

8In overflowing wrath for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you, says the Lord, your Redeemer. 

9This is like the days of Noah to me: Just as I swore that the waters of Noah would never again go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you and will not rebuke you. 

10For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you. 

This is the Word of the LORD

Thanks be to God

John 1:1-18

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

2He was in the beginning with God. 

3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 

4in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 

5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. 

6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 

10He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 

11He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 

12But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 

13who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. 

14And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. 

15(John testified to him and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.'") 

16From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 

17The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 

18No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.

This is the Word of the LORD

Thanks be to God.

1. Isaiah 54
1. Christine’s story about teaching Isaiah 54
2. I love scripture because:
1. it shows me how to recognize God in my life, and in the life of my community.
2. Every now and then, God reaches through a passage of scripture and grabs hold of me, sometimes to shake me, other times to embrace me
3. Good Friday Tenebrae service
1. Structure of the service
2. Ending with this verse
1. God is speaking to Jesus
2. To all Israel
3. All nations
3. Give this verse to someone without a commanding voice
1. Hope is whispered tenderly, or tentatively, not projected
2. John 1
1. Acknowledges that darkness exists
1. admits the abandonment described in Isaiah 54, that many of us will feel in our lives, is legit
2. Shows us who Jesus is
1. Word
2. Life
3. Light for all people
3. Puts the response on us
1. Like John, we “testify concerning the light”
2. To help others know and receive him, and to live transformed lives as a result
3. Even if we do not, the light still shines, the darkness still does not overcome it.
3. God promises “never again.”
1. Jesus was abandoned by God on the cross so that we wouldn’t have to be.
1. “Once for all.” says Hebrews
2. This is our story, this is our song of praise. Abandonment, turning away, and darkness have been swept away and now compassion, grace, and truth rule.