Send me your dark stories
Why on earth would I ask this of you? I ask this in light of Isaiah chapters 8 and 9. Send me your dark stories. Speak of what is oppressive and binding and harsh. Comes pretty easy these days, doesn’t it? I know we have found the start of 2021 gloomy, oppressive, and depressing. But we will not stay there…also speak of light and hope because you, yes, you have a vision. You’ve seen God’s faithfulness before. Here’s how this works:
Recently I was going to get a Covid test. That’s dark. The fact is we are living in a pandemic with a deadly virus that took my papa’s life the very day I was hoping I tested negative. Our downtown is overpopulated by mentally unstable and homeless people. Descending the stairs to avoid elevator buttons the stench caught me first. Next it was the pile of jeans that I could see over the railing. Yet we proceeded down the stairs because this is where we live and this is what we see on a regular basis. But then there he stood, utterly naked. Utterly deprived.
Fortunately our test were negative. We took a stroll around the city block in hopes of finding some light, but there was none to be seen other than the sunlight warming our faces. As we returned to the parking garage we had to step over our friend Marcy who, on this particular day, was sleeping outside of St. Patrick’s Church, getting a sunburn.
These are dark stories. They have all the power necessary to send us running for safety, comfort, to closed and secure doors.
Let us cry, Father God, Abba, have mercy on these, our neighbors. Because of your faithfulness to me, I choose to be faithful to the people of this place you sent me. Help me believe that when all I can do is pray, prayer has the power to move heaven and earth.
Sometimes the heavenly answer comes as quickly as a sewage hose replacement. Other times, like the prophet Isaiah, centuries will come and go and holding to hope is the most intense act of worship.
What is real is hard. I repeat, what is real is hard. The purpose of living in denial is to avoid the real hard. We’ve all done it or are currently doing so. But you and I are called to live differently, remember?
The message of hope, the message in the days of real hard “is a message for the people, a message sent into the camps of the exiled, and into the slums of the poor…if this message really laid hold of us, it leads us to Jesus the liberator, and to the people who live in darkness and you were waiting for him – and for us.” - Jurgen Mottman, German theologian
Have we been deceived yet again? Do we really think the light shines only over our church buildings, over our Christian homes, Christian schools, gated communities, membership only clubs? The light shines on the people living in darkness. That’s it truth from Scripture. To go towards the light is to face the real hard. That’s where it shines.
So send me your dark stories. That’s where the light of Jesus the liberator shines brightest. In these coronavirus stricken times, leave your comfort, your padded possessions with your masks on and find Jesus at the grocery store, on the sidewalks, downtown, in line at the bank or unemployment office. Waiting outside the hospital or in the employee hospital parking lot.
Live differently by going towards the dark where Christ’s light shines brightest!
Want more? Read Isaiah chapters 8 and 9.
Ready to act? Put notes on cars at the hospital. Do a prayer walk in a dark place. Leave a bag of groceries on the doorsteps of a friend: Canned soup, crackers or bread, oranges. Make a care call.
I met Gary a few weeks ago as I attempted a walk around the neighborhood. Gary is tired of being in his house robe as he’s recovering from surgery done last month. I get the house robe thing! I’ve delivering a bag of groceries to him.
A car crash happened outside of our house this week and I knew the woman injured. Our eldest sons went to elementary school together. I got to care for her, make calls for her, and make sure she and her son had dinner the following night.
We read our city paper daily. While we can’t step into meetings and aren’t called on to be decision makers, we can pray. We can pray for the school board members by name and ask God to intervene in these dark moments.