In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.

            Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that was made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

                                                                                                                                                            John 1:1-5

            When Horace Bushnell began his teaching career at Yale Divinity School, he struggled to increase his faith.  He prayed that God would give him more light, thinking that was what he needed to become a better teacher of ministers.  In time, he realized that it made little sense to ask God for more light when he had not been faithful to the insights God had already given him.  In his diary he wrote, “I have moved from the agony of questions I cannot answer to the agony of answers I cannot escape.”

            We all have questions we cannot answer.  The news is filled with one horror after another in various parts of the world.  The Pettit family murders are in the news again here in Connecticut, and we are reminded how heinous that home invasion was.  And we ask ourselves: how can this happen in our modern society? 

            We seem to be living in a time when there are more questions than answers.  Why are so many Americans out of work?  Why are housing prices still so depressed and is there any hope in sight for them to rise?  How can we improve the education system in our country?  Will  I ever be able to retire?  And why can’t our elected officials work together to solve the severe problems we face today?  We seem to be living in a time of great depression and fear because the questions are huge and numerous and the answers are few and elusive.

            Is it fair to say that we live in a time of darkness?

How true the Bible rings when it says that the light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.  What if this world embraced the light that is Jesus Christ instead of ignoring it or fighting against it?        

             I believe that Horace Bushnell was right when he began to focus on the answers he already had. Our world has already been given the answers to the deepest questions that plague us.  Our task is to focus on the answers instead of dwelling on the severity of the questions.

            We know that humanity’s greatest problem is sin and that God, through Jesus’ death and resurrection, has dealt with that problem once and for all.  We know that love is better than hate, and forgiveness is better than revenge.  We know that meaning is found in relationships of love, not in the accumulation of things.  We know that sacrifice is better than selfishness; giving must replace hoarding; our enemies must be loved; the greater good is more important that what’s in it for me; and love for God and others is our highest calling.  We know that true life is only found in God.  It is no simplification or exaggeration to say that Jesus Christ is the answer to the problems of this world.

            What most of us need is not more answers to life’s hard questions but enough courage to live by the clear insights we have been given.  How different this world might be if more Christians were bold in sharing the transforming power of Christ to others!  How many of the deep problems and questions we face today as a nation could be solved if more people lived in the light of our Lord?

            Jesus has shown us how to live.  His light is what this dark world needs.  And we are called to shine His light into the darkness.  We have the answers that this world desperately needs.  There really isn’t much question about what we should do.  The real question is whether or not we will do it.

                                     Grace and Peace,      

                                                     Pastor Tom