John 8:12-16

Each single one of us has a power we are barely aware we have—and it is an incredible power. It is the power of choice, the ability we have to make decisions about which way our lives will go. It is the power to choose which way our steps will walk. We have an enormous, incredible power.

A man who has affected me profoundly is Victor Frankl, the late psychiatrist from Austria. As you may know, he was a survivor of the death camp at Auschwitz during the Second World War. One of the many things I like about him was that everything he wrote came not from the ivory tower of academic speculation, but from life in the raw. He was a man who encountered life in its ugliest form and became a great man, strong and wise, when he could have made different choices and become small and bitter.

In his book Man’s Search for Meaning, in which he examined his own and others’ responses to the concentration camps.

We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.

And there were always choices to make. Every day, every hour, offered the opportunity to make a decision, a decision which determined whether or not you would be­come the plaything of circumstances, renounc­ing freedom and dignity to become moulded into the form of the typical inmate.

He is saying we have the power to choose. We have the power to choose which way our feet will walk.

You and I know very well that on life’s journey—and I believe life is a journey—there is an overwhelming abundance of darkness. There are dark moments when it seems as if a black shroud is put over your head and you cannot see anything. It is total, pure, unadulterated darkness. There are dark days when we see no light. The sun is not coming through, and we wonder will we ever see light again.

And then there are the dark periods, extended periods of depression, discouragement, disillusionment. Those of us who have gone through periods like this often call them “the dark night of the soul.” I wish it on nobody, and if you have experienced it I know you feel the same. This darkness can be overwhelming.

Yet there is in this world, and always has been, from the creation of humankind, a light, a light that in the history of the world has never, ever gone out, and I can say with confidence it will never go out. This light always is. Yes, there will be dark days. Discouragement, depression. But the light is there. We have the power to choose to walk toward the light.

Something that always fascinates me when I am walking around the city is how, when I see a sidewalk, or a concrete wall, with a big crack in it, somehow, in some miraculous way, there will be a weed or a wildflower sprouting out. It is a miracle. Somehow a seed blew into that tiny crack, and once it got into earth which could nurture it, and a little bit of moisture was added, the seed began to germinate, looking, reaching for the light. When it found the light it began to grow and flourish, no matter how tiny and cramped the space. Light is life. There is no life without light.

There is an amazing scene I have seen many times during the summer in Maine. I have a favorite cove on Jewel Island in Casco Bay. It is uninhabited, and boaters will often go there to have lunch on the rocks. Above the cove is a ledge with two huge stones close beside each other, leaving just a narrow space between them. Out of that tiny space has grown the most gorgeous pine tree. You can see the root system twining around the stones looking for any places to attach where there is a bit of soil, a bit of moisture, and light. Seemingly growing out of the stone, flourishing in the sunlight, is the tree of life, the evergreen.

In the eighth chapter of the gospel of John is a rather remarkable declaration, where Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will always walk in the light, and with that person will be the light of life.”

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” You have probably heard that phrase all of your life. Have you ever wondered what that means for us in concrete terms? Jesus tells us in His teachings, which are full of light. When He was preaching the Sermon on the Mount, in the section we call the Beatitudes, He taught, Blessed are the merciful. Happy are you when you are merciful and kind, because you will be rewarded with mercy and kindness yourself. You will live in a kindly and merciful environment.

Blessed are the peacemakers, He said. Blessed —happy—are you when you seek to make peace wherever you go, bringing sanity and safety. What is the reward for being a peace-maker? It is a kind of special recognition. You become one of the children of God.

Jesus went on to talk about prayer—that blessed communion with God. He taught how to pray: You go into a quiet place; you close the door, and in secret you let God know your request, and God will honor your request. When you pray for light, God will reward you with light.

Jesus talked about what to do when somebody hurts you and persecutes you. Love them, He tells us, love the person anyway. And even when it hurts very deeply and it is hard to deal with those who have hurt you, forgive them. Forgive them anyway. That is light. Many of you have heard me say time and again that forgiveness for the big hurts of life is very rare. When that level of forgiveness happens, it is extraordinary. It beams.

His teaching about generosity was very similar: Don’t hold back, don’t count the cost. Give, give. Open up. Let it flow. You are being given unto all the time; as it comes to you, just let it go through you and give it away. When you do that even more will return to you. The measure you give will be the measure you receive back.

One of Jesus’ greatest teachings sums up all these teachings: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. That is the Golden Rule. That is light.

And so, when Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Those who follow me will walk in light for the rest their days,” He meant it exactly as He said it.

When you take following Jesus as the light of the world seriously, what does it look like? It looks like Mother Teresa. In the last thirty years was there any more phenomenal presence in the world? Anyone with more greatness, more attraction, more influence, than Mother Teresa? She is someone who followed Jesus, full-blown, completely committed to Him. When you do that, what do you have? You have somebody who is living in the light.

Mother Teresa did an incredible job with her life, starting her ministry with the poor and dying, the rejects of the world, in the streets of Calcutta. So effective she was that hundreds and hundreds of young women joined her Sisters of Charity. People who have been there have told me, “Arthur, I think that these Sisters of Charity, who have nothing, who give everything, are the happiest people in the world.” That is light. That is what light does to you.

You may know the name Malcolm Muggeridge. He was an English man of letters who in the latter years of his life had a spiritual awakening and became a Christian. He was fascinated by Mother Teresa and wrote a book about her called Something Beautiful for God, where he describes something that happened thirty years ago on British television. They broadcast the story of Mother Teresa, and so enthralled was the viewing public that the station had to rebroadcast it again and again and again. No program like that had attracted so much attention before. Why were people so eager to see Mother Teresa, so drawn to her story? It is because we all are drawn to light, and her story is a story of light.

This is what Muggeridge said about the way Christian educators are always attempting to attract the attention of the viewing public, often failing to do so:

Discussions are endlessly taking place about how to use a mass medium like television for Christian purposes, and all manner of devices are tried, from dialogues with learned atheists and humanists to pop versions of the psalms and psychedelic romps. Here was the answer. Just get on the screen a face shining and overflowing with Christian love; someone for whom the world is nothing and the service of Christ everything… It doesn’t matter how the face is lighted or shot; whether in front or profile, close-up or two-shot or long-shot; what questions are put, or by whom. The message comes over… It might seem surprising, on the face of it, that an obscure nun of Albanian origins, very nervous—as was clearly apparent—in front of the camera, somewhat halting in speech, should reach English viewers as no professional Christian apologist, bishop or archbishop, moderator or knockabout pro­gressive dog-collared demonstrator ever has. But this is exactly what happened.

She was reflecting the glow of the light of the Christ.

I can just hear you thinking, “Now, Arthur, you know there is no way I am ever going to be a Mother Teresa.” No, you’re not, and neither am I. You don’t have to be a Mother Teresa. This was her calling. This was what she was supposed to do with her life. But wherever you are, whatever you are about, focus on one thing and bring light to it. If you are a parent, make that your highest priority. Love that child. Nurture that child. Do what you can to bring light into that child’s path.

On your job, going to work tomorrow, if you have a bad attitude, remember you have the power to choose. Change your attitude. You feel you must do your job in a bureaucratic way, you have difficulty with this person or that person, you have become part of a gossip system—stop all that. Change your attitude. Bring light to your work. Do the very best job you can regardless of what anybody else does. No more saying, “This is not my job,” and looking to somebody else to do it.

Try relating to your co-workers as if you are trying to help them succeed. Some of them will be shocked. You may be shocked yourself. Once you get used to it, you will love it, because you will be doing something which brings light, and your co-workers are going to love you, too. You will feel elevated in ways that you never imagined you could be, all by the power of choice, walking toward the light.

When I tell you—tell all of us—to walk toward light, let me remind you that you are also a source of light. The more you walk toward the light the brighter the light inside you will be. The thirteenth-century German mystic Meister Eckhart talked about this. He said that deep within the soul of every person is a sanctuary, a quiet place, a place of tranquility, a place where there is the light. It is the Christ-light. Quakers have done the best job in describing this light, because they live and worship and gather by the inner light of the Christ.

To experience our Christ-light we have to take some time. We have to go into that inner room and close the door to pray, to sense the light of Christ that is in us, and as time goes on and we nurture and give room for this light, we become different people. We have insight, the insight of the Christ.

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world,” and I believe that He is. Anybody who follows me will always walk in the light and have no darkness.” Let light guide your footsteps, the light that never goes out. Let us pray.

Lord, You give us encouragement and hope. Help us, each one, to have the courage to make the choice to always walk toward the light. Amen.