An Austrian company called Bartenbach Lichtlabor has come up with a plan to bring sunshine into the darkness by installing 30 heliostat mirrors onto the mountainside. The mirrors will grab light from reflectors on the sunny-side of the mountain and shine it back into the town.
The project will not be cheap'the European Union will cover half of the $2.4 million bill?but if successful, will bring hope to the 60 other communities scattered throughout the Alps that endure the winter darkness each year. Markus Peskoller, Lichtlabor's director, has also committed to paying for the $600,000 cost of planning the project because of its potential for other markets. "I am sure we will soon help other mountain villages see the light," he said.1
John says God himself is light.
Is the Light.
And the way we live in fellowship with God is to . . .
if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us 1John 1:7-8
The little
An Austrian company called Bartenbach Lichtlabor has come up with a plan to bring sunshine into the darkness by installing 30 heliostat mirrors onto the mountainside. The mirrors will grab light from reflectors on the sunny-side of the mountain and shine it back into the town.
The project will not be cheap'the European Union will cover half of the $2.4 million bill?but if successful, will bring hope to the 60 other communities scattered throughout the Alps that endure the winter darkness each year. Markus Peskoller, Lichtlabor's director, has also committed to paying for the $600,000 cost of planning the project because of its potential for other markets. "I am sure we will soon help other mountain villages see the light," he said.1
John says God himself is light.Is the Light.
And the way we live in fellowship with God is to live our lives in the light of God.
Practically, what that means is that if want the benefits of living under God's care, then we cannot play both sides of the field.
John says that if we say we belong to God, but live our life in the shadows, then we are deceiving ourselves.
One of the obstacles we face is that we may not be sensitive to, or even aware of how God expects us to live our lives.
Or we may be accustomed to thinking that it doesn't really matter.
For some time, educators have faced accusations of "dumbing down" exams in order to compensate for increasingly poor student performances.
The Professional Association of Teachers (PAT) in Great Britain, however, recently proposed another solution: banning the word "fail" from classrooms and replacing it with the phrase, "deferred success." Eliminating negative language, a spokesman for the group said, would help avoid the lasting educational problems associated with the labeling of pupils.
Applying this type of thinking to theology would lead us to eliminate the word "sin." Instead, we might speak of "deferred obedience," or even "delayed righteousness." 2
The Professional Association of Teachers (PAT) in Great Britain, however, recently proposed another solution: banning the word "fail" from classrooms and replacing it with the phrase, "deferred success." Eliminating negative language, a spokesman for the group said, would help avoid the lasting educational problems associated with the labeling of pupils.
Applying this type of thinking to theology would lead us to eliminate the word "sin." Instead, we might speak of "deferred obedience," or even "delayed righteousness." 2
God promises us His presence and spirit to guide us, when we take seriously his claims on us.
John says will come to know him if we obey his commands.
In the gospel of John, Jesus says, whoever takes his claims seriously and implements them, is the person to whom he will come and make himself known.
What if we fall short?
There really isn't even a "what if".
We all fall short of what God calls us to be.
The remedy is simple:
Admitting our mistakes and turning away from them.
This is called confession.
John says that if we really acknowledge our failings and really are sorry for them, then God will always forgive us and put us back on the path.
There may be human consequences to our misbehavior or bad attitudes, but we will have God's full attention and help, and from personal experience, I can tell you that you can cope with consequences when you have God on your side.
Confession has a purpose. At least, that's what Frank Warren, creator of PostSecret.com, has come to find. Every week he receives secrets in the form of postcards from around the world. PostSecret originated as a project for an art exhibit in November of 2004, and as of June 2005 he had already acquired 2,000 postcards.
Most of the postcards Warren receives express politically or socially incorrect ideas, detail abuses both past and present, or articulate body image issues that people have never told others. As evidenced by the comments posted at the bottom of the page, many visitors to the site have found a sense of camaraderie as they read secrets that they themselves have. For most of them, shame and guilt kept them from talking about their own secrets. PostSecret.com provides an anonymous arena for disclosure, and both the contributors and visitors are finding that these confessions remove their sense of shame and isolation.
Surprisingly vulnerable, the confessions on these cards display and evoke a wide range of emotion. For example, one postcard states, "I don't care about recycling (but i pretend i do)," while the card beneath it reads, "His temper is so scary that I've lost all of my options," and another says, simply, "I miss feeling close to God."
The submitters say they find a sense of release and freedom when they finally drop their card into the mailbox. As he found when he confessed his own secret, Warren says, "Sometimes, we believe we are keeping a secret, but it can be just as true that the secret is keeping us."3
Most of the postcards Warren receives express politically or socially incorrect ideas, detail abuses both past and present, or articulate body image issues that people have never told others. As evidenced by the comments posted at the bottom of the page, many visitors to the site have found a sense of camaraderie as they read secrets that they themselves have. For most of them, shame and guilt kept them from talking about their own secrets. PostSecret.com provides an anonymous arena for disclosure, and both the contributors and visitors are finding that these confessions remove their sense of shame and isolation.
Surprisingly vulnerable, the confessions on these cards display and evoke a wide range of emotion. For example, one postcard states, "I don't care about recycling (but i pretend i do)," while the card beneath it reads, "His temper is so scary that I've lost all of my options," and another says, simply, "I miss feeling close to God."
The submitters say they find a sense of release and freedom when they finally drop their card into the mailbox. As he found when he confessed his own secret, Warren says, "Sometimes, we believe we are keeping a secret, but it can be just as true that the secret is keeping us."3
Some things can be confessed to God alone. With some, there is greater freedom when at least one other person has heard your confession and reminded you of the promise that John reminds us of, that whenever we confess our sings, God is just and faithful to forgive us.
What if I don't know it's wrong?
Ask.
Psalm 139 concludes with a great prayer for us to pray on a regular basis:
Search me O God and know my heart...see if there is any offensive way in me.
I can tell you from personal experience that if you pray that prayer and mean it, God will answer it.You will receive a nudge or a straight out answer of what it is that you need to work on and change.
If you mean it.
Sometimes we just become insensitive to issues that may be plain as anything to others or to God.
Construction worker Patrick Lawler thought he had a toothache. For almost a week, he tried painkillers and ice packs to reduce the swelling. When nothing he did brought relief, he finally went to the dental office where his wife works. Only after the dentist took an x-ray did Patrick learn the true source of the toothache. He had a four-inch nail in his head.
When the dentists reported their discovery to Patrick's wife, she thought they were joking. But the x-ray revealed the truth. The nail had entered through his mouth, just missing Patrick's right eye.
The incident occurred six days earlier. Patrick was working with a nail gun that backfired. Although one of the nails shot into his mouth and embedded itself, Patrick didn't realize it. He merely complained of a toothache and blurry vision, and even tried ice cream to soothe the pain.
After the nail was discovered, surgeons at a Denver hospital successfully removed it through four hours of surgery. Although it is a "pretty rare injury," one neurosurgeon admitted, "this is the second one we've seen in this hospital where the person was injured by the nail gun and didn't actually realize the nail had been embedded in their skull."
When the dentists reported their discovery to Patrick's wife, she thought they were joking. But the x-ray revealed the truth. The nail had entered through his mouth, just missing Patrick's right eye.
The incident occurred six days earlier. Patrick was working with a nail gun that backfired. Although one of the nails shot into his mouth and embedded itself, Patrick didn't realize it. He merely complained of a toothache and blurry vision, and even tried ice cream to soothe the pain.
After the nail was discovered, surgeons at a Denver hospital successfully removed it through four hours of surgery. Although it is a "pretty rare injury," one neurosurgeon admitted, "this is the second one we've seen in this hospital where the person was injured by the nail gun and didn't actually realize the nail had been embedded in their skull."
That's a bit dramatic, but we can have failings that are hidden to our eyes. They may be the source of a lot of pain for us or others, but only until we are ready to have them revealed and removed will we find freedom from them....search my heart o God, see if there is any offensive way in me...and the last part of the psalm, and lead me in the everlasting way.
Give me the diagnosis, Lord, but show me the way out.
1. Walk in the light.
Avoid a life of shadowy attitudes, pastimes or behaviors.
They will only lead to misery and will block you from receiving all of God's help in your life.
2. If you know you have gone awry, confess it and ask for forgiveness and the help to change.
3. If you are not sure, submit as a regular practice to a review from above. It may be surprising what you find and more
surprising how God will help you move to a more satisfying way of life.
Preached February 5, 2006
Dr. Harold McNabb
West Shore Presbyterian Church
Victoria, British Columbia
Notes
1.George Jahn, "Mirrors to Banish Town's Winter Darkness," Associated Press (11-20-05)
2. UK Teaching Group to Consider Banning "Fail," ABCNewsonline (7-20-05)
3.Dana Beatty, St. Charles, Illinois; sources: http://www.postsecret.blogspot.com/, http://circlesarefun.com/NY0609A018X.pdf
Online Resources Consulted
http://www.preachingtoday.com/