Receiving and Believing the Light of Jesus

REFLECTION QUOTES

“Light
Light
The visible reminder of Invisible Light.”

~T.S. Eliot (1888-1965), poet and literary critic

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”

~Plato (c. 428-c. 348 BC) Athenian philosopher

“If we conceal our wounds out of fear and shame, our inner darkness can neither be illuminated nor become a light for others.”

~Brennan Manning (1934-2013) in Abba’s Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging

“We modern people believe in absolute freedom…. Therefore, we believe in no god…. If there was a god and if there was a god we could know, who told us how we had to live, and who gave us the rules and the regulations, well, then we wouldn’t be free.”

~Albert Camus (1913-1960), French philosopher and writer

“The baby bat
Screamed out in fright,
‘Turn on the dark,
I'm afraid of the light.”

~Shel Silverstein (1930-1990), children’s author

“…if two thousand years of pious handling had not dimmed both John’s story and its demand, this gospel would still be seen as the burning outrage it continues to be, a work of madness or blinding revelation.”

~Reynolds Price (1933-2011), professor, literary scholar on the Gospel of John

“People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own souls. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”

~Carl Jung (1875-1961), Swiss psychiatrist

For there is always light, if only we're brave enough to see it
If only we're brave enough to be it

~Amanda Gorman, first-ever youth poet laureate at the presidential inauguration

SERMON PASSAGE

John 1:1-18 (NASB)

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind. 5 And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it.

6 A man came, one sent from God, and his name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.

9 This was the true Light that, coming into the world, enlightens every person. 10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, and yet the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own people did not accept Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John *testified about Him and called out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who is coming after me has proved to be my superior, because He existed before me.’” 16 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. 17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time; God the only Son, who is in the arms of the Father, He has explained Him.