by Rev Don Schatz

Light in the Darkness.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“The chords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came upon me; I was overcome by trouble and sorrow.  Then I called on the name of the Lord: ‘Oh Lord save me.’”
Psalm 116:3-4 New International Version

Some sorrows are ‘natural’ on this side of Genesis 3…the sorrow death brings, the sorrow that pains us in relationships, and the sorrow of our own sin.  So is there an ‘unnatural’ sorrow?  I’m not sure, but there is a sorrow that is visited upon us due to the actions of others.

The current persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt, and Ethiopia, comes to mind.  Starvation in Somalia and the Sudan seems to fit, and closer to home a seemingly endless list of evils that one individual can work on another compounds layers of sorrow (which can really seem to turn the day into night).  Shootings in schools, and bombs in Austin, come to mind.

Does that remind you of another day, when the brightness of the sun was vanquished by an unnatural darkness pregnant with sorrow?  That’s how the Gospel writers describe the afternoon of Christ’s crucifixion day, Good Friday.  We use that oxymoron without batting an eye these days.  In the days prior to Christ’s death, his own sorrow is poignantly expressed over Jerusalem and its inhabitants.  He wanted to gather them up, nurture, protect, and bless them.

Our Lord has just such a heart, a heart to overcome our sorrow through the experience of his own, to take even that to the cross, bury it deep in the grave, and leave it there.

Do not be alone in your sorrow.  Look to Jesus and receive his grace again. Inhale the breath of comfort that is the Holy Spirit, who is the Comforter after all, and stand again in the light.

Come out of the darkness. Receive the hand, the prayer, the cup of coffee, or tea offered by a sister or brother in Christ.  Someone is raising a Candle in your night.  Or, perhaps you are the one raising a Candle in the dark night of another.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, CO