Last night, I took the dog for a walk at 7:30 p.m. The sky was already dark, the stars bright. It was a beautiful, crisp night. It seems that the stars shine more brightly when the sky is an inky black. They stand out in contrast to the darkness.
I hate it when people don't come to church because they are struggling with something. I will not see someone for weeks, and when they return, I'll ask them if everything is OK. When they tell me that they didn't come to church because they felt depressed or sad, doubting or questioning, I get so frustrated! There is no better time to come to church than when you are down and out! How in the world have we come to believe that church is only for happy people or certain people? We are a community that is searching for Christ in the darkness and everyone is invited to search with us.
There is a parable that Jesus tells us about these bridesmaids that go out into the darkness to meet the bridegroom. In Jesus' day, it was customary for the women and girls who loved the bride to take their lanterns and go out at night, to search for the bridegroom in the darkness. When they found him, they would bring him back to the home of the bride, where there would be a great feast.
I can just picture these women, stepping out into the dark night, lanterns in their hands, searching in the darkness for the symbol of love itself, searching for the one who would enable them to celebrate life. But they could not start the celebration before stepping out into the darkness to look for him.
It strikes me that one of the best places to find Jesus is in the midst of the darkness, at the very center of our own pain and suffering. That is what the cross is about. That is why the Incarnation of God comes to us at the darkest part of the year, when the light is limited and our days are short. Christ comes in the darkness.
There is an amazing book that has been published recently. It is selling off bookshelves all across the country. It is called THE SHACK. The story is about McKenzie, a dad who loves his kids. He takes his three youngest on a camping trip. They have a great time, canoeing, pitching their tents, roasting marshmellows and lying on the ground watching the stars shining in the dark sky.
On the day that they are to return home, McKenzie's two older kids decided to go out in kayacks on the river. Mack and his little daughter, Missy, stay on shore. He watches the action on the water and she colors at a picnic table.
Mack's son capsizes. Mack watches intently. He does not see his son appear above the water, so he dives in and rescues his boy, who has somehow gotten his pants leg caught on something. When Mack finally gets his son above water, the boy is unconscious. Mack carries him to shore and does mouth-to-mouth until his boy coughs up water and begins to breathe. By this time Mack is crying with relief.
And then he looks up to find that his little daughter is missing. Frantically, he and his two other kids search the campsite. They alert the authorities. Someone reports seeing a man push a little girl into a truck.
The police search for days. They find Missy's body in an old, abandoned shack.
Mack enters what he comes to call The Great Sadness. He can no longer see color. He doesn't know what to think about God. He is lost. For three years, he lives in The Great Sadness.
And then he gets a letter in the mail. Come and meet me at the Shack, love God it says. Mack thinks that it may be the work of the murderer or some other quack, but he cannot stay away. He puts a shotgun in his car and goes to the shack.
When he walks in, he sees the blood stain on the carpet where his little girl died. He screams and screams, crying out his pain...
And God comes to McKenzie that day in the Shack. I will not spoil the book for you. I find all fictional depictions of God to be inadequate, but this is one of the least inadequate descriptions I have found. It is well worth reading.
My point is that Mack would not have encountered God if he had not been willing to go to the place of his greatest darkness, the place of his living nightmare. He found God in the darkness, and God fed him there.
If you are in the dark, please know that God wants you to come to church. Christians are not eternally happy, perfect people! We are full of doubts and despair just like everybody else. BUT WE LOOK FOR CHRIST IN THE DARKNESS. We seek Him. We long for Him.
I am looking for the coming of Christ. That is what we say as the days darken and Advent approaches. I am looking for the coming of Christ.
