FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ATLANTA, GEORGIA

Sermon by Rev. Craig N. Goodrich

 

January 27, 2008

 

WALKING IN THE LIGHT

 

Scripture:   Isaiah 9:1-7, Matthew 40:12-25, Psalm 27:1, 13-14

 

 

This past summer I was on Sabbatical for three months. One of the highlights was a trip which my wife Andie and I took to Geneva, Switzerland where we were for four days followed by ten days in Scotland. For those of you who know your Presbyterian history, you will recognize the significance of those places. Geneva is where John Calvin presided over the Reformation in the 1500’s and Scotland where  John Knox  after spending a number of years in Geneva studying with Calvin while in exile from Scotland, returned to lead the Scottish Reformation. It is primarily from Calvin and Knox that we have received our Reformed Presbyterian heritage, theology, governance (the Session of elders) and even our worship liturgy.

 

In Geneva, at the base of the old city there is a monument to the Reformation. It was built during the years 1909 to 1917 to commemorate the 400th birthday of John Calvin (next summer will be his 500th). It is a long granite wall. Right in the center are four figures, each about 15 feet high. From left to right are William Farel who preceded Calvin in Geneva, John Calvin, who is just a little taller and a half step in front ahead of the others, then Theodore Basel who succeeded Calvin in Geneva, then John Knox. They are clad in what we have come to know as Geneva gowns – the academic gown - (which we are wearing today). Calvin holds an open Bible in his hands.

 

It was Calvin, after all, who authored the primary textbook for Reformed Christians, The Institutes of the Christian Religion while still in his twenties. He was a Frenchman trained in the laws and humanities. Once he settled in Geneva he taught week in and week out, year after year, and established the Academy which sent out hundreds of trained reformed pastors, the academy which is now the University of Geneva. It is Calvin and Geneva that during the Reformation welcomed Protestant refugees from all over Europe. (The Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 7-8)

 

On the monument wall behind these four giants are the words “Post Tenebras Lux” Latin for “After Darkness Light” which became the motto not only Geneva but for the Reformation itself.

 

“After Darkness, Light.” While what was meant by the phrase is susceptible to many interpretations there is no doubt that it was intended as a short hand way for saying that the Reformation, which our Book of Order describes as a time of “the rediscovery of God’s grace in Jesus Christ as revealed in Scripture” was for those involved, a movement from darkness to light. The Reformers believed that the old practices and traditions and, in some cases, abuses of the established church needed reform in the fresh light of Scripture and in the light of Jesus Christ. And they set out to walk in that light.

 

“After darkness, light.” Well, there is no doubt the fact that each morning light does indeed come after darkness: that light does help us see what has previously been unseen; that light illumines and exposes, searches, clarifies. Light heals. And light brings hope.

 

The Scriptures are full of the imagery of light. In our text today, Matthew writes that Jesus went to Galilee to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah that “the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, on those who dwelt in the shadow of death on them has light shined.”

 

The words in Isaiah actually speak of the people who “walked in darkness,” not sat. But you get the picture. What Matthew is saying is that Jesus himself is that light, the light that brings hope and illumination and truth.

 

We are reminded of the Gospel of John and the wonderful prologue of Chapter 1, “In him was life and the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” And there are echoes of Genesis chapter one. Do you remember the first thing God says in all the Scriptures – as the darkness covered the face of the deep and a wind from God swept over the face of the waters, “Then God said “Let there be light and there was light. And God saw that the light was good.”

 

The writer of the letter of 1st John puts it this way, “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true, but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin.”  (1st John 1:5-7)

 

And then in the 8th chapter, Jesus himself proclaims “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life?” (John 8:12)

 

So let me ask you, where are you this morning? Are you sitting or walking in darkness? Or are you walking in the light?

 

Jesus is the light. The one who searches for us in the darkness, the one who illumines our lives and our paths. He is also the one who calls.

 

As he walks along the Sea of Galilee, preaching, he comes across a group of fishermen, two sets of brothers. The first two Simon, known as Peter, and his brother Andrew are casting their nets into the sea. Jesus calls, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And the text says “Immediately they left there nets and followed him.”

 

A little further down the beach he sees James and John in their boat with their father Zebedee. They are mending their nets. He calls to them and “immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.”

 

There they are, the first disciples.  It seems pretty dramatic. Not a lot of details. All it says is they got up, left their nets and followed him.

 

 

Don’t you wonder how they could do it? And what was it about Jesus? They didn’t ask any questions “Where are you going Jesus? What about our boat and the nets? They simply got up and followed?

 

What about us? We who profess to be followers of Jesus today? What are we to make of this story? On the cover of our Bulletin is our Statement of Purpose in which we describe ourselves as “disciples who proclaim and serve the Lord Jesus Christ in all we say or do”

 

I wonder have you heard Him calling you?  Have you? “Follow me.”

 

Will you get up and follow? Or are you still hugging your nets?

 

Could it really be possible that we are called to leave behind that which is comfortable, and secure and known; the safety and familiarity of the boat?

 

One of the most significant books in my life was written by Presbyterian pastor, Craig Barnes. It is entitled When God Interrupts, Finding New Life through Unwanted Change. I come back to it over and over again, especially in critical times, and I’ve done so again this week.

 

His thesis is that life never quite works out the way we hope it will, that things happen that interrupt our plans and our hopes for a nice secure life, and yet he maintains that it is precisely in these interruptions, that so disappoint and challenge us, that there is great opportunity to discover the grace and the power of God.

 

One chapter entitled “A Place You’d Rather Not Go” has been particularly helpful to me. The title is from the words of Jesus at the end of the gospel of John when after Peter’s denial, the garden and the cross and resurrection, Jesus finds Peter back at his nets and invites him for another walk on the beach. It is a heart breaking and heart warming story of redemption and forgiveness. And at one point Jesus looks at Peter and says;

 

“Very truly I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go” And then he commands Peter once again, “Follow me.” (John 21:18-19)

 

Barnes goes on to draw on the story of Jonah, the reluctant prophet who sought to avoid the call of God to go to Nineveh, the place of hostile enemies. He does not want to go so instead he books passage going the other way to Tarshish, a city known for luxury and comfort. And you know the story, a great storm comes up. Jonah asleep in the hold wakes up, says to the crew, throw me overboard for I am running from God’s call. And they throw him overboard which stills the storm. Swallowed by a big fish, in the belly of the whale, a place of complete powerlessness, Jonah prays. Eventually the fish spits him out on land and fulfills, still a bit reluctantly the call of God to preach to Nineveh. And the whole city and even the cattle respond to his message.

 

And Barnes writes:

 

“There is no safe way to Nineveh. Safety abandoned us long ago. There are many questions about the details of God’s call. How will we get there? Who will take care of us? What assurance do we have we will be successful in Nineveh. None, none.  It feels like going overboard.” (When God Interrupts, p. 63)

 

Maybe that’s how you feel this morning. You don’t want to go to Nineveh, but that’s where God is calling you to go. And the only way there is the way of going overboard, the way of powerlessness and prayer. Maybe that’s where we all are today.

 

As Barnes says, “Every Christian I know is interested in the will of God. We all want God to call us. We just want to pick the place and the people.” (p. 59)

 

You know it was true of John Calvin. He never even planned on going to Geneva. Geneva.

 

In fact, as related by Scottish minister P. Logan Ayre in the booklet Sitting in Calvin’s Chair, Calvin at age 27 was on his way from his hometown of Noyon, France to Strasbourg to “pursue his literary and religious studies” when he was detoured to Geneva because the road was closed due to the war between what is now Germany and France. He only intended to stay for one night, then head on his way.

 

But someone spotted him in the street and reported to William Farel that Calvin was in town. Farel jumped at the opportunity and determined that Calvin, the author of the Institutes was the man to lead the reformation in Geneva. This is Rev. Ayres account:

 

“Farel’s interview with Calvin was anything but peaceful. Calvin simply did not want the job. He pled his unsuitability for the task: he was a scholar, not a politician. He was also a sick man. Indeed, it is questionable whether he ever knew a day free from pain and weakness. Calvin emphasized all these facts in his talk with Farel, saying “I still want to learn. I intend to write several things that I could not find time for here”.

 

But Farel listened to only half of it.” Studies, learning…when it is a matter of taking action! Do you want to direct the Reformation in this city? I am on the point of breaking down under the load and you deny me assistance?

 

Calvin replied” “Do not take it as ill-will. My health is not the best. I need a rest”.

 

Back thundered Farel: “What rest! Nothing except death brings rest to the servants of Christ”.

 

And so the argument continued until Farel shouted, “For the last time, do you want to follow the call of God or do you not?”

 

“No! No!” Calvin cried.

 

And so Farel pronounced his curse. “You are concerned about your rest and your personal interests…therefore, I proclaim to you in the name of the Almighty God whose command you defy: upon your work there shall rest no blessing… Therefore, let God damn your rest, let God damn your work!”

 

And Calvin, all resistance crushed, capitulated. “I believe in God.” And so Calvin stayed on in Geneva.” (Sitting in Calvin’s Chair pgs. 7-8) Which is where he died almost 30 years later.

 

Now that was 1536. We don’t talk to each other like that these days, even in Church. We are a little gentler.

 

But let me ask you. Are there places in your life where you know, in your heart of hearts, that you are resisting the call of God? Could it be that God is calling you, that God is calling us, to places that we would rather not go, because we know that they will be hard and difficult, uncertain? “Follow me” says Jesus. But where are we going we want to know?

 

The Scripture this morning provides us with one answer about what such a place might be. For right after the calling of these first disciples Matthew goes on to say:

 

“Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing disease and every sickness among the people... and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics and paralytics, and he cured them”

 

I like the way Eugene Peterson puts it in The Message:

 

“He also healed people of their diseases and of the bad effects of their lives.  ...People brought anybody with an ailment, whether mental, emotional, or physical. Jesus healed them one and all.”

 

And the disciples?  Where were they? Don’t you know, they were right there alongside him, helping where they could.

 

Where is Jesus calling us to go? One place is wherever there are those who are suffering, perhaps in silence, wherever there are those who are broken-hearted, in need of hope and healing.

 

 

Isn’t that where we should be? It may be a hard place, with hard issues. It may be a place we would rather not go. We may not think we can do it. It may be inconvenient. It may be a place that is beyond our control, a place that scares us. Or it may be a place that awakens in us the awareness of our own brokenness and our need for healing and our own need for hope. It will surely be a place of prayer.

 

But take courage. Do not fear. The Lord is our light and our salvation.

 

And remember, we are following Jesus, and he has gone ahead of us.

 

He is already there at work and he is ready to heal, one and all.

 

Thanks be to God.

 

Alleluia! Amen.