We will pick up again from "In the End - The Beginning" by Jurgen Moltmann
...hope must prove its consoling and its resisting power. It is consoling to withstand and to stay the course in the expectation that 'He who endures to the end will be saved'. It is encouraging not to have to capitulate before the unalterability of conditions and not to give way to sadness, but to remain upright in protest. People who accept the darkness of their lives resist the light of God which drives out the night.
It is so very important to stay in touch with that light. If you are not hearing about it and if you do not know where to go to see it flicker like a resistance movement standing in peaceful defiance against that powers of the world, turn to scripture. We are reading the gospel of Mark in confirmation class. In those first chapters, there is a stream of one story following on the heals of the previous story and all of them have to do with Jesus...healing...casting out demons...stepping over boundaries and into forbidden zones of life. This stories bring light into the world. These stories are acts of resistance and acts of creativity. They appear as old stories, but they are meant to show us the power of the light of the Reign of God that is available to all who take up the invitation to walk with Jesus. This is a walk of everyday justice and mercy. It is not merely a story. It is a real light for the living of these days. Sometimes, we need only remember who leads us through the darkness of the day to see how light begins to shine even when we try to deny it.
Connection: What will you do to spend some time in the light today? Then...how will that light lead you out into a day that can too easily be filled with darkness?
By your light, O God, you shine upon this day as a way to new life and a way to walk with others through the darkness that can try to close and shut down the possibilities of new life that can turn our world upside down so that we can live in hope. Continue to pull us from all the powers of darkness that refuse to rest in you alone. Amen.
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