Have you ever had a church service in the darkness? There was one time, when I was out in Maryland, that a power transformer blew out just down the street on Sunday morning. In an instant, the whole church went from a well-lit, lively place full of music to a quiet, darkened room with no organ. Just like THIS. (all lights in sanctuary are shut off)
But there’s still light in here now. We still have enough light to see by. We need to think darker. I can think of another time when the family and I were taking a tour in an underground cavern south of St. Louis. I was taking some pictures, and Luke—or was it Nick?—was with me. We got further and further behind the main group and having a good time . . . and then the lights went out. That was dark.
I did have one source of light to help find our way, though. Our digital camera had a little screen on the back that in that pitch blackness was able to light a small patch of trail right around our feet. Eventually—with the help of a tour guide who’s job it was to pick up stragglers—we found our way back to the group.
But even then I still had a little light . . . so we need to think even darker. Darker than the darkest night. C.S. Lewis wrote about the end of his fictional world of Narnia—I know I’ve mentioned the Narnia books a few times before—and at the end of that world the stars literally fell from the sky, the moon dissolved into nothingness, and the sun itself was snuffed out. The darkness of that world was so total, so complete, so frigidly cold that life became an instant impossibility. No sun . . . no warmth . . . no light . . . no life.
That is the very kind of darkness that your neighbor was born into. That is the kind of darkness some of your family members live in. Because although they may have every kind of artificial and natural light known to man, they still lack the One who is the Light of the World. They lack the light of Jesus Christ.
Imagine for a minute what their lives must be like without that spiritual light. You have the warming comfort of Christ’s promises to rely upon, but they have no warmth to give comfort to their souls. You can turn to the Scriptures for enlightening guidance when you make decisions, but they have no light to turn to for answers. They live each day in darkness, alone and cold, and even the grave will bring no relief for them. They will go down into a cold, dark, grave with no hope of ever entering the light again. That’s what their life is like: It may look nice on the outside, but the underlying reality betrays their true condition.
In the early 1940’s, a group of women began to think about the darkness that ruled the lives of their neighbors, of their families, of the peoples of the world. And so the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League was formed. Since that time they have gathered and given over eighty-two million dollars towards dispelling the darkness by bringing Jesus Christ to world-wide, regional, and local mission efforts. These women daily live out the words of the Apostle John in 1 John 1:5, “5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.”
Now who are these wonderful women? To give 82 million they must be rich, right? To keep a world-wide organization running they must be very influential people, right? To do something this amazing for the Kingdom of God they must be spiritual super-heroes, right? Who are these women?
I’ll tell you who they are. Some of them are sitting next to you right now. Look around—do you see anybody that’s enormously rich, anybody that President Bush is calling up for advice? As for super-heroes . . . well, I don’t see a single cape in the whole bunch.
No, the women of the LWML aren’t much different than you or I. Well, maybe I have a bit more facial hair . . . but other than that, they are just ordinary, average, everyday women. They are sure of one thing; that Jesus Christ is the light of the world. That’s it. That’s all it takes. Jesus Christ is the light of the world, He is their light, and through Him God has chosen them to accomplish something amazing for His Kingdom.
Here’s just a partial list—a partial list—of what God has accomplished through the LWML in the past two years:
Responding to HIV / AIDS Among Congregations in Kenya—given $ 30,750.00
Urban, Ethnic School Expansion-East St. Louis, IL—given $ 75,000.00
Expanding Ministries to Youth and Adults in Southwest Alaska—given $ 75,000.00
Lutheran Blind Mission Outreach Program—given $ 32,000.00
Lutheran Teachers in Sierra Leone—given $ 84,000.00
Inner City Mission and Ministry-Buffalo, NY—given $100,000.00
Lutheran Leaders' Training Institute-Pakistan—given $ 75,000.00
Those are some amazing numbers! But what is even more amazing is how God accomplished it! Normally you’d think of a big corporation offering some gigantic funding to get that kind of money, but that’s not they way God has chosen to work. If He can work through ordinary, average, everyday people like the ladies of the LWML, He can also work through the ordinary, average, everyday gifts of a few pennies at a time.
(holding up mite box) This is a mite box. It is the method by which the LWML gathers the money to do all of those amazing things. Bit by bit, loose change is gathered up and put in these boxes, and bit by bit that money adds up until it totals in the millions of dollars. And you thought a penny couldn’t buy you anything any more!
But that’s not all. Giving to mission projects is a great idea—it’s something we do even as a church: 10% of every dollar that we receive in our offerings automatically goes to missions—but often those mission projects seem very, very far away. We send our money and prayers to people hundreds and even thousands of miles away . . . but what happens to our next-door neighbor?
I just learned something. I learned that if you had one hundred pennies and crammed them all into this mite box, seventy-five of those pennies would stay and work right here in Michigan. Do you like having a pastor? Do you suppose the other churches in Michigan like that, as well? The LWML gave $25,000 dollars to provide Michigan men with scholarships to the seminaries, to train them to become pastors. Do you think it’s important to have more churches, so that more people can know of the light of Jesus Christ? The LWML funded new mission congregations in Michigan with $22,500 dollars. They gave $25,000 dollars in scholarships for women pursuing professional church work careers. They gave another $25,000 in financial assistance for the food and clothing co-op to purchase food items, and they support twenty-seven missionaries that were sent to all parts of the world from Michigan. God is spreading His light through the ladies of the LWML.
And that’s a good thing, because this old world can be pretty dark sometimes, can’t it? NIV John 3:19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
Evil deeds—what the Bible calls sin—thrive in darkness. They can’t live in the light. Think of all the things that happen in a dark alley . . . they happen because of the darkness—both physical and spiritual—that allows them to happen.
But even though evil deeds thrive in hidden darkness, the Apostle Paul says in Galatians 5:19-21 that they are still obvious. “19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.”
Doesn’t that list sound just like our community at times? Doesn’t it sound like our homes? Doesn’t it sound like . . . like my life?
See, I think there’s something that the ladies of the LWML understand, and maybe we need to understand it, too. Jesus Christ is not just the light of the world; He is my light, too!
I confess: all too often I love the deeds of darkness. If I was left to my own decisions, to my own path, I would wander down the path of darkness. I would serve myself. And as I traveled farther and farther down that path, I would get lost in the darkness, forgetting the light, and I would be damned.
But that’s not the way it has to be. The prophet Isaiah offer me hope, saying in Isaiah 9:2, “2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” And then Jesus Christ answers that prophecy, saying in John 12:46, “46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.”
Jesus Christ offers Himself as my light! He is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path! In the cross of Christ I have life, I have salvation, I have light! I no longer live as a child of darkness, I am no longer darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God, but I am eternally united with Him through His one and only Son through the enlightening call of the Holy Spirit. The Triune God has established a relationship with me—as He can do with you—and I will never live in darkness again.
That truth—the truth of the light of Jesus Christ—is the very heartbeat of the LWML. Their mission is to assist each woman of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod in affirming her relationship with the Triune God so that she is enabled to use her gifts in ministry to the people of the world. God uses plain, ordinary women to accomplish something amazing. He uses them to give the world—from across the globe to across the street—He uses them to give the world His Son. He uses them to give the world His light.
So take a few minutes today to thank God for the light He has given you. Take a few moments today to thank God for the light He has spread through the LWML. Jesus Christ is truly the light of the world.
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